Paper Instruments

These instruments' functional parts are made completely out of paper! (Other materials may be used for decoration.) See videos of burning paper instruments, the Sound of Paper performance at Art Cézar, listen to studio recordings, and learn how to make your own!

Burning Paper Instruments

Danger: art ahead! Music and fire share a dependency on air which I find fascinating. You can not only hear the power of a breath, you can see it visually as that same breath feeds the flame, not only hear the passion in the music, but feel its smoldering heat. There is a lesson here about the fleeting nature of art, of music's dependency on the ephemeral. You are the last person who will ever play that burning instrument.

[video preview image]
Click to play (4 min) Autorequiem for Tube Harp

Click to play (3 min 36 sec) Last Quintet

Disclaimer: We are professionals. Burning things is hazardous.

Sound of Paper at Art Cézar

The Sound of Paper was the first public paper instrument performance, which premiered on March 7, 2009 at Art Cézar Gallery in Rotselaar, Belgium. Here are video and audio recordings of two of the pieces performed:

[video preview image]
Click to play (1 min 55 sec)
Storm

A piece for paper xylophone and assorted paper winds.

Live audio recording:
Click to play (1 min 43 sec)

Click to play (1 min 37 sec)
Didgeriduel

A piece for two dueling paper didgeridoos, paper tube harp, paper drum, and—unintentionally—dog.

Live audio recording:
Click to play (1 min 16 sec)

Studio Recordings

Also available are three (audio-only) studio recordings of three new songs:

Dance Click to play (56 sec)
A3 A4 Click to play (1 min 32 sec)
Floo-ee-oo-ee-ute Click to play (1 min 38 sec)

How To Make Your Own

Paper is perhaps the cheapest and easiest material for making instruments! Learn how here.

How To:
Paper Recorder and Didgeridoo
How To:
Paper Hand Flute
How To:
Pitched Paper Percussion:
Paper Xylophone, Tube Harp, and Tube Bass

About This Project

The paper instruments project found its roots as a commission from the Art Cézar Gallery, as accompaniment for a paper-themed show. I decided to create music that is not just about paper or with some paper theme, but that is played on instruments that are actually made out of paper. What followed was a long process of inventing instruments that work, improvising to find music that works with them, and of course the obvious: playing them while they are on fire.