Japanese Gravity Marimba Plays Bach In An Ancient Forest

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By Sean Michael Ragan
Posted 2011/04/11 @ 8:55 am
Category General, Music, Woodworking

This remarkably beautiful video, uploaded to YouTube one day before the T?hoku earthquake and tsunami, turns out to be an ad for Sharp’s SH-08C handset. It is, nonetheless, something you shouldn’t miss: in a tranquil forest, a single wooden ball rolls down a stepped wooden ramp, continuously, for two minutes. At each step, it falls and strikes a wooden bar tuned to play a single note of the 10th movement of Bach’s Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147, commonly known by its English title, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. Wait ’till you see how they handle the sustained notes. [Thanks, Rachel!]

More:
Top 10: Rube Goldberg Machines

BY Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I write for MAKE, serve as Technical Editor for MAKE magazine, and develop original DIY content for Make: Projects.

In the Maker Shed

62 Responses to Japanese Gravity Marimba Plays Bach In An Ancient Forest

Bill Eccles on April 11th, 2011 at 4:52 pm said:

I still can’t believe I’m the only one who realizes that this isn’t Bach’s Goldberg Variations, but rather a Goldberg variation of Bach…

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- Mike Sanders on May 7th, 2011 at 12:42 pm said:
  
  Wow aren’t you the clever one please see my response to Ale Tirabo above and insert whatever your name is.
  
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  Ethan Murai on May 17th, 2011 at 1:42 am said:
  
  I think he was making a pun with reference to both Bach’s harpsichord piece and Rube Goldberg machines.
  
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  Ethan Murai on May 17th, 2011 at 1:42 am said:
  
  I think he was making a pun with reference to both Bach’s harpsichord piece and Rube Goldberg machines.
  
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  Ethan Murai on May 17th, 2011 at 1:42 am said:
  
  I think he was making a pun with reference to both Bach’s harpsichord piece and Rube Goldberg machines.
  
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  Keith Mitchell on February 14th, 2013 at 3:09 pm said:
  
  Rubinstein “concerto” or “orchestra” via the Goldberg variations by Bach?
  
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James Hopkins on April 11th, 2011 at 5:02 pm said:

LOVE THIS!

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mike_bb on April 12th, 2011 at 6:17 am said:

wow

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Sylvie Bailly-Marchand on April 12th, 2011 at 7:12 am said:

très beau, même si de temps en temps la note n’y est pas

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YvetteS on April 12th, 2011 at 5:38 pm said:

I could watch this over and over again! Simply amazing!

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Julian Liedtke on April 12th, 2011 at 8:09 pm said:

nice.

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constance kowalski on April 12th, 2011 at 9:03 pm said:

What a beautiful, simplistic rendering of one of the world’s great musical pieces! Thank you for the opportunity to experience this awe-inspiring event.

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Marc Federico on April 12th, 2011 at 10:12 pm said:

cool but obviously fake

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- Jason on April 13th, 2011 at 12:58 am said:
  
  why is it a fake Marc? because you cant believe that they would set up and spend all that time? ppl do amazing things good and bad the us spent a decade and 12 million to create a pen that would work in space/underwater/ subzero and up to 300 degree C temps. while the Russians just used pencils. This is great
  
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  anton on April 13th, 2011 at 1:08 am said:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen
  A common urban legend states that, faced with the fact that ball-point pens will not write in zero-gravity, NASA spent a large amount of money to develop a pen that would write in the conditions experienced during spaceflight (the result purportedly being the Fisher Space Pen), while the Soviet Union took the simpler (and cheaper) route of just using pencils.[1] This story is in fact false, [keep reading]
  
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Jacqueline Rooney Mikami on April 13th, 2011 at 12:16 am said:

Wow – this is awesome Lisa.

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Anonymous on April 13th, 2011 at 5:07 am said:

Completely, unnecessarily, wonderful.

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Anonymous on April 13th, 2011 at 11:36 pm said:

Wonderful, great, original and all that, but really; “Touch wood”?

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Andre Wagner on April 14th, 2011 at 4:28 pm said:

Amazing

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Ale Tirabo on April 14th, 2011 at 8:47 pm said:

How many beatiful trees were necessary for few seconds of poor music?

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- Dettarer on April 17th, 2011 at 7:49 pm said:
  
  The video says that all the materials used in the video come from forest management efforts, so the materials used there are mostly from undergrowth, not big trees. Many forests in Japan are becoming overgrown because those forests were meant to be actively managed and logged but logging in Japan mostly went out of business since then. So, keeping those forests healthy is becoming an issue — they need to be periodically thinned but those unmanaged forests no longer produce building materials (not straight enough, too thin, etc etc), so funding such effort is becoming a challenge. Thus the phones with wood cover — they actually are paying for the low-grade wood, which in turn is paying for the forest management. At least, that’s what the ad is trying to convey.
  
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- Andy Horning on April 21st, 2011 at 1:36 am said:
  
  I suppose they could have used bones, if you’d prefer.
  
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- Anonymous on April 22nd, 2011 at 8:45 pm said:
  
  How much oil did you burn to save a few seconds of walk time today?
  How much coal was burned to power the PC you are typing on?
  How many animals and plants were killed for the clothes you are wearing?
  How much of my air did you waste, blowing all that hot air of yours?
  
  Is there ever anything that can happen that you wont look for the negative in, and spout off about to make yourself feel superior?
  
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  Kyle Mccririe on August 9th, 2011 at 10:27 pm said:
  
  can i like this twice????
  
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- Anonymous on May 5th, 2011 at 8:03 pm said:
  
  Negativity, missing the beautiy……….gotta be a lib
  
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  Sarah Howell on May 31st, 2011 at 7:41 am said:
  
  what a morainic, judgmental statement. Must be a conserv
  
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- Mike Sanders on May 7th, 2011 at 12:40 pm said:
  
  What a prick!! The music is exceptional and I have shown it to my grandchildren, it is inspirational, you on the other hand are taking up valuable space on this planet
  
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- Margaret Grace McCaffrey on June 10th, 2011 at 5:55 pm said:
  
  I beg your pardon? Poor music? I beg to differ my uneducated friend. It’s so beautiful! Better they do that than waste their time on computers searching for videos to complain about!
  
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Pakistani music on April 15th, 2011 at 1:26 pm said:

I think its a nice work.

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Polly Payne Hendricks on April 17th, 2011 at 2:53 pm said:

amazing!

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Eric M Dohogne on April 18th, 2011 at 3:56 pm said:

Those clever Japanese!

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Patricia Murphy on April 19th, 2011 at 1:57 am said:

How absolutely charming this is. Made me smile.

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Cobus Koekemoer on April 19th, 2011 at 1:51 pm said:

Very impressive!

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Debbi Miller on April 24th, 2011 at 8:55 pm said:

For all those who have heard my answering machine…

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James Edwards on April 27th, 2011 at 12:41 am said:

A really beautiful must-see.

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Hermann Engelhardt on April 27th, 2011 at 2:58 pm said:

Bach in the Forest

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Steven Lazo on April 30th, 2011 at 1:17 am said:

touch wood.

hehe

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Domingo Cerra on April 30th, 2011 at 3:53 am said:

!Ingenioso!

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Domingo Cerra on April 30th, 2011 at 4:03 am said:

!Ingenioso!

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Lorie Squires Harris on May 3rd, 2011 at 4:34 am said:

Wow! How does one even know where to start to come up with such a great idea. And the way the wood is set up…somebody knows their keys very very well. And it flowed with Gods creatiion. Great job!

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Online reviews on May 11th, 2011 at 8:39 pm said:

I think its a great work done.

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Shane Green on May 12th, 2011 at 2:24 am said:

Ok, we need plans on how to make these!

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Marlene Zeigler on May 12th, 2011 at 3:35 am said:

.

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Craig Doolittle on May 12th, 2011 at 8:02 pm said:

Way cool…..my favorite Bach.

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Anonymous on May 19th, 2011 at 10:25 pm said:

Think about the work that went into this, and cutting the wood to right length, and the angle to make that sound. What workmanship! The amount of trial and error, incredible.

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Celia Linde on May 21st, 2011 at 3:24 pm said:

Musical poetry in the forest!

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Celia Linde on May 21st, 2011 at 3:24 pm said:

Musical poetry in the forest!

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Celia Linde on May 21st, 2011 at 3:24 pm said:

Musical poetry in the forest!

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Kaleb B Karr on May 23rd, 2011 at 4:51 pm said:

I saw this a while back and have been trying to find it again. the phone might loke…wierd but the video is really cool.

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Louwena Brand on May 25th, 2011 at 7:53 pm said:

Fantastic!!!!! Please watch and listen! It is amazing!!!

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Louwena Brand on May 25th, 2011 at 7:53 pm said:

Fantastic!!!!! Please watch and listen! It is amazing!!!

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Louwena Brand on May 25th, 2011 at 7:54 pm said:

Please listen and watch this! It is amazing! Very, very creative!!

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Terri Carls on June 4th, 2011 at 6:17 pm said:

This is awesome

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Terri Carls on June 4th, 2011 at 6:17 pm said:

This is awesome

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Terri Carls on June 4th, 2011 at 6:17 pm said:

This is awesome

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Margaret Grace McCaffrey on June 10th, 2011 at 5:54 pm said:

That is so cool!

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Salvo Paragas on July 9th, 2011 at 8:54 am said:

good example of too much time and money of big corporate phone companies ha!

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Salvo Paragas on July 9th, 2011 at 8:54 am said:

good example of too much time and money of big corporate phone companies ha!

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Christopher Yates on September 8th, 2011 at 1:55 pm said:

I am speechless with wonder at this creation.

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Christopher Yates on September 8th, 2011 at 1:57 pm said:

I am speechless with wonder at this creation.

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Christopher Yates on September 8th, 2011 at 1:57 pm said:

I am speechless with wonder at this creation.

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Jay Parker on January 12th, 2013 at 10:07 pm said:

Is this truly a marimba, or just a xylophone?

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