putting the fur into Für Elise

September 12, 2009 5:50 AM

The sounds of a loon, two owls, cat, wood stork and cuckoo are the sole musical instruments in this furry arrangement of the classic, "Fur Elise," composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. The Dance of the Sugar Plum Furry, trained flies, underwater astonishments, make new animals and more at Switcheroo Zoo.

Previously.

posted by nickyskye (26 comments total)

Related: 23 white mice, painstakingly trained, play The Bells of St. Mary's.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:59 AM on September 12 [2 favorites has favorites]

I would like to see it combined with this sort of visualization, but using little animal icons.
posted by exogenous at 6:04 AM on September 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

This is fantastic Nicky :)
posted by vronsky at 6:09 AM on September 12

and for those with more modern tastes in music, might I add a chorus of frogs in borneo doing New Order -- chorus in the rain
posted by vronsky at 6:13 AM on September 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

That is so cool vronsky, that frog chorus is definitely modern, it's a bit like a cross between gamelan and miniature horns.
posted by nickyskye at 6:18 AM on September 12

Loon! Cat! Loon! Barn Owl!
posted by xorry at 7:30 AM on September 12

I can't say I've heard a domestic cat make that tuba sound before.
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 7:43 AM on September 12

That was great. And these techniques will come in handy after the apocalypse has destroyed our ability to manufacture musical instruments.
posted by DU at 7:53 AM on September 12

All these "fur" puns seem a little forced considering that all but one of those animals are birds.
posted by shammack at 7:57 AM on September 12

That, and the fact that it's spelled für, and is not a homophone of "fur".
posted by Brother Dysk at 8:18 AM on September 12

wow I guess this is something nobody with a crappy sampler keyboard and atari notator could have done 20 years ago or anything.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 8:21 AM on September 12

Switcheroo Zoo has several other animal songs.

The cat bass is the purr that you can hear by itself at the end of the song.
posted by After the Jump at 8:25 AM on September 12

And let us not fail to remember not to forget this Immoral Holiday Classic....
posted by squalor at 8:55 AM on September 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

squalor, I was going to say that was a typo, but now seeing what the link is to, I think you are right. The charm of that thing wears thin pretty fast for me, and is redeemed only in some small degree by seeing my mom's cats freak out two weeks a year while that thing is on the radio.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:06 AM on September 12

And let us not fail to remember not to forget this Immoral Holiday Classic....

Oh God, I can't listen to this without seeing David Letterman drinking an entire punchbowl of eggnog.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:37 AM on September 12

This is awesome.
posted by Lutoslawski at 10:03 AM on September 12

"wow I guess this is something nobody with a crappy sampler keyboard and atari notator could have done 20 years ago or anything."

Dick.
posted by vronsky at 10:10 AM on September 12

Recommend deleting vronsky's last post as abusive.
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 10:22 AM on September 12

I'll have to add this to the things I play for my parrot when I'm trying to foster his feelings of inadequacy.

"See. They can sing, why can't you?"

At which point he'll demonstrate that he can perfectly imitate an alarm-clock at about 120 decibels.

Little fucker.
posted by quin at 10:33 AM on September 12

Recommend vronsky's comment stands, and that people not expend the energy to post dickish "I find this boring" thread turds.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:34 AM on September 12

> "Recommend deleting vronsky's last post as abusive."

Why? I was unimpressed for the same reason. It's not so much animals as musical instruments as a single sampling of each animal noise played as music on a synth. The music is still input by a human. This is very easy to do.
posted by stepheno at 10:37 AM on September 12

I'm with vronsky and Marisa. This is charming. Even if it could have been made on a steam-powered, animal tail-puller connected to a pipe organ keyboard in 1845, it would still be charming.
posted by Faze at 11:01 AM on September 12

"Dance of the Sugar Plum Furry" was not at all what I thought it might be, which was a relief.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:00 PM on September 12

This reminded me of the original and perennial animal classic, the song that I absolutely LOVED when I was a kid and would squeal each time the year rolled around and this would be all over the radio...

...ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: "JINGLE BELLS" AS BARKED BY A VARIETY OF DOGS!

Thanks for this, nicky!
posted by not_on_display at 12:03 PM on September 12

Also!
posted by hattifattener at 1:19 PM on September 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

Live concert, or it didn't happen.
posted by essexjan at 1:55 AM on September 13