I was back at the Panorama this weekend for an interesting musical performance by a band called the Long Lost and a guy who plays wine glasses.
The wine-glass player, Douglas Lee, was really amazing. He has a wood tray on legs that holds a number of glasses of different sizes. Before each song, he dips his fingers in some water, and then sets to work– rubbing a finger around the rim of a glass produces a nice tone, and different sized glasses sound different pitches. So far this is not surprising– you have probably tried it yourself sometime while drinking wine– but the incredible part is that he can go from note to note VERY FAST with perfect control over the sound, producing complicated melodies and effects.
In other words, he turns wine glasses into a Serious Instrument. After the show we asked him a few questions. He said that he learned to play from a guy in a circus that he worked in. Each time he plays, he sets up the glasses, fills them with water, and then adjusts the levels a bit to tune each glass. The scale is the same as the piano (including both white and black keys).
For his rendition of “Istanbul not Constantinople” and other songs, you really have to check out the videos here.
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