We can’t imagine a better surprise than walking down the cobblestone streets of a charming European town and meeting a street artist practicing the unlikely talent of playing music on none other than, your typical crystal glassware!
A passerby seems to have caught this fellow on video at the start of his rendition of one of my personal favorite songs. Hallelujah, written by Canadia singer, Leonard Cohen was originally released in 1984, and has gained huge popularity through various artists’ works over the years. The song is haunting and soul-gripping and now we get to hear it on this street artist’s instrument of choice.
You can see the jugs of water in the background that this musician uses to fill his glasses – wonder how long it takes to get them filled just right and how often does evaporation (or rain!) alter their sound so that they need to be adjusted. Well, this guys is ready to play and after a quick warmup stroke across the tabletop, he starts the main performance.
What talent! And here we thought Sandra Bullock had talent when she played the water glasses on stage during her beauty contest bit in the 2000 film, Miss Congeniality. It amazes us that this guy can play trills and riffs without missing a beat. If we weren’t watching, we’d have bet money on their being at least 3 or 4 people playing here.
The vibrations when the rim of the glass is touched make a sound wave as the movement travels through the water in the glass. More water in the glass means that the sound wave travels slower and you’ll hear a lower note, while less water in the glass produces a higher pitched note as the sound waves travel faster. If you’d like to get your own start on this fun musical instrument, here is a great beginner setup to make music with water glasses.
Beautifully done!! Hard to believe that water glasses can create such a beautiful sound!!
It takes quite some talent, wouldn’t you say? I’d love to see it for myself someday!