Seattle-based German artist Trimpin makes sculptural musical instruments. He was profiled in a mini-documentary by Washington public TV station KBTC a couple of years ago. Here are videos of some other works of art he's created, Fire Organ, Liquid Percussion, Cello, Sensors and Record Players, Contraption at Seattle-Tacoma Airport, MIDI-controlled Player Piano and Sheng High. Kyle Gann wrote an essay by that placed Trimpin in the tradition of John Cage, Harry Partch and other avant-garde American musical inventors. The audio of a nearly hour and a half long 1990 interview with Trimpin by Charles Amirkhanian can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Another, more light-hearted interview in connection to his show at this year's SXSW, where a documentary about him premiered (trailer).
posted by Kattullus on May 4, 2009 - 5 comments

The Outsider: The story of Harry Partch. BBC Documentary. "...a documentary about the composer Harry Partch who invented his own compositional method using a 43-tone scale and many instruments that he built by hand."
posted by vronsky on Nov 20, 2008 - 15 comments

Play a Harry Partch Instrument. Visionary musican Harry Partch (1901-1971) built his own incredible Just Intonated instruments. You can now play them all with your keyboard!
posted by ubueditor on Dec 14, 2004 - 16 comments

Play the instruments of Harry Partch online! (Some assembly required.) My favorite: the chromelodeon -- 43 tones per octave! For more background, see this prior Partch post.
posted by UlfMagnet on Jun 6, 2003 - 6 comments