原创 Marbles work their music magic

You must have seen the classic Pipe Dream Video on YouTube. This was the fifth track from Animusic's first DVD, and it still blows my mind to this day.

As an aside, I have both the Animusic 1 and 2 DVDs and I can sit and watch them for hours. I've been awaiting the release of Animusic 3 for more years than I care to remember; hopefully it will make an appearance while I still maintain a corporeal presence in this plane of existence.

I'm sure that any engineer who has seen the aforementioned video has contemplated building an engine of this ilk, but most of us have reluctantly been forced to the conclusion that this is nothing but a pipe dream (Ooh, did you see what I just did there?).

And then, just today, as if from nowhere, my chums Alan Winstanley and Jay Dowling located at opposite sides of the globe both sent emails pointing me toward this video of a Magnificent Magical Marble Music Machine.

This bodacious beast employs 2,000 marbles to work its magic. It also demands a significant amount of hand-cranking effort on behalf of its operator, but powering it by any other means would be a crime.

I can so see myself playing one of these, although I'd prefer mine to be in darker wood enhanced with brass bits and pieces. I think I see another hobby project in my future, but I fear I'm going to have to lose some weight and purchase a pair of tight black trousers, otherwise I might look ridiculous.