WindWorks Design/Blog

Over the Christmas period I’ve been reading the excellent book by Bart Hopkin, Musical Instrument Design. It contains a wealth of information, ranging from the theoretical foundations to the most practical instructions for building your own inventive instruments. The book has chapters covering the way we perceive sound, the principles of acoustics, various chapters dedicated to specific families of instruments, and effects. There are appendices on which tools and materials you’d need to build your own instruments, and places to shop for them. There’s also an appendix detailing the peculiarities of wind instruments, which for me as a reed player was an eye-opener.

Mr. Hopkin’s writing style is wonderful, very knowledgeable and witty and sometimes outright hilarious. He has the ability to explain even the most fundamental and dry concepts in a way that keeps you fascinated. And he always keeps the practical aspects in mind. To quote a random passage that illustrates this:

“First, some considerations of a utilitarian nature for anyone with an instrument-making habit:
There are big instruments, and there are small instruments. Big instruments take up a lot of space. If you persist in making big instruments, you will have storage problems. The closet fills up; the living room fills up; the kitchen fills up; etc. There is no cure for this, but there are a few things you can do for symptomatic relief: 1) Try very hard to build small instruments only. 2) If you have yard space, build instruments of weather-proof materials and keep them outdoors. 3) Make instruments that can be dismantled into storable parts, and reassembled. 4) Rent a warehouse.”

Sound advice, and funny too! Throughout the book, there are many sketches and diagrams, and amusing little drawings, all by the author himself. One of my favourites is this one explaining one of the ways to find the best place for toneholes in your wind instrument:

drawing used with kind permission of the author, Bart Hopkin

Anyone with an interest in knowing how musical instruments work should get a lot out of this book. And if you’re interested in building your own instruments, you should definitely read it! You’ll probably find the book such an inspiration that you can hardly wait to start building your very own masterpiece.

Bart Hopkin is also the editor of the magazine Experimental Musical Instruments. It has a website where you can find some imaginative examples in the Gallery, many times including a sound clip of the actual instrument as it’s being played. Some of these instruments also feature in the book.

So: buy the book and start building!