Wotcher all, as you may have seen in my signature, I have a second job (rather less serious than my day job but a great deal of fun) - I work as a magician / illusionist in my city and I'm working on a new cabaret style act of around 15 minutes.

Ideally, I'd like to theme the act around music and musical instruments (perhaps I'll be a conductor trying to work with an orchestra, or I'll work in an enchanted music shop - who knows where it will go) but I just wondered (random question alert) if you could sprinkle some of your creativity on this: What would be really magical where musical instruments are concerned? Flying flutes? Vanishing violas? Chopped and restored cellos? etc...

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to conceive magical happenings that include musical instruments and I will try to figure out ways to make it happen (maybe I could video it and put it on the recordings site if it works out).

This message will self destruct....

Allan

Well, if you could fit a cello into a violin case, the world would beat a path to your door...

How about making the white keys and the black keys on a piano switch round (so all the black keys become white and the rest of the keyboard black)...

Playing the flute not sideways but the way you would play a recorder or a clarinet...

Get a viola, destroy it and then make it turn into a cello.

Way back in my childhood, I remember seeing a magician on (I think) Crackerjack (which left our screens in about 1984, oh dear!), who got a newspaper, tore it up, and then screwed the pieces of newspaper up into a ball, then the ball of newspaper was unravelled to reveal a whole newspaper. Perhaps this could be done with a piece of sheet music?

Ooh the possibilities. . . . How about getting a trumpet, destroying it, getting another trumpet, destroying it, etc. I'm sure the audience would appreciate that. How about fitting a piccolo inside a flute inside a clarinet inside a bassoon?

I have a good idea - how about having a mass piccolo burning session? That would be great

On a serious note... no idea but will think on it...

If I could do that I would be soooo happy myself - it would save lugging my bright red go-kart cello case on my back all the time. I think this idea has possibilities, though - perhaps bringing a cello case on stage and opening to produce a cello, then a viola, then a violin, then an enormous double bass... hmm food for thought!


I love the piano idea - I'm just concerned about transporting such a large instrument... however I could (heaven forgive me) use a keyboard for the purposes of the show - perhaps I could turn the whole thing white by 'catching' the black keys in a butterfly net or something... nice idea, thanks!




I'm really seeing loads of possibilities with strings - I can see a violin growing into a double bass slowly... being a viola and a cello along the way, of course... it's a nice idea. Not sure I'd have the heart to smash anything up, though...



I loved this idea so much I worked on it this afternoona fter I saw your post. I've got it working and it looks great - I've had to make the print bigger on the music paper for it to be obvious what it is, but other than that, an out of the box success - thanks Barry!


I wonder, Mr Radley, if you're not just a big trouble maker in disguise... this mass trumpet destroying session is nothing but an excuse to give government issue violas to all ex-trumpeters by law, isn't it... bad Boo! I love the wind instrument idea, though... I can see it working in a similar way to the growing stringed instruments. Thanks!



I'm watching you, zovut. I know how it goes, you'll come on and pretend to be all helpful in the illusion designing department and before I know it I'll have bought a unicycle and be learning how to juggle as well... I did think about a flute that played itself and floated across the stage - I think it would look very beautiful as a shiny object on an otherwise dark stage... perhaps I could be massively ambitious and have two flutes duetting.... aarrgh Calm down Allan... one thing at a time.

Where's the disguise?

AHA! Nabbed! J'accuse! (and j'agree with you as well, but shhhhhh - I'm posing as a kindly brass loving magician, see.)

Allan, I told you I'm not fluent in telugu yet! I did actually try a baritone horn once and it sounded very much like a flatulent elephant.

Nice! I can cross the baritone horn off my 'things I must buy' list, then - I've already got a flatulent elephant.

Telegu will take you about a fortnight at your rate of progress (how many languages are you studying simultaneously now?????) Between us we could speak them all! (insert wild claim and nonsense remarks here, readers)

<pulls on Debbie McGee-style frock to post in this thread>

I'm afraid I'm not much of a magician (my best trick is to make chocolate biscuits disappear!), but can any of your existing tricks be adapted to give them a musical twist? Sawing instruments in half could be a great use for some of the cheapest nastiest instruments regularly sold on e-bay.

Any chance you could turn my Clavinova into a Steinway?

You could hum a musical tune and do my physics coursework at the same time if possible. That would be a realllly cool magic trick!!

See, if I even came within a thirty metre radius of your physics coursework it would burst into flames and everything you tried to do with physics afterwards would fail miserably - I am that bad at science (and maths for that matter)... not much help, sorry!



I'm good at the biscuits trick too (considers buying new suit as this one is a little tight, but the biscuits trick requires practise, you see...)

Sawing the ebay instruments in half would be nice, but I'm not certain I'd have the heart to put most of them together again...

As for the clavinova to steinway... well, I'm working on it with my kawai at the moment. Not hugely successful, I have to say, but I'll keep you posted!

How about making a grand piano disappear? But finding one might not be that easy.

Hmmm, building on Noodelz' idea, making grand pianos APPEAR would not only be a cool trick but fairly profitable...


Awww tsk, you're such a spoilsport!!


nice, Boo, nice...


I think I missed something, *goes to do search on "Telugu"...*

why dont you take a viola and burn it? that would be good

I would pay good money to see that!

Only joking. Love violas really.