Bach’s Cantata 147, ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’ Played On a Giant Wooden Xylophone In a Forest
April 7, 2011 - By Bobby Solomon - Category: Music & Video
This is probably the largest, least creative title for a post ever, but it’s also one of the most descriptive as well. The video is a commercial by DOCOMO for the Touch Wood SH-08C, a limited edition phone of which there are only 15,000 being made. But honestly I could care less about the phone, this commercial is a thousand times more cool. By combining lord knows how many pieces of wood, they were able to make a long, downhill track that was able to reproduce Bach’s Cantata 147, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. This is a pretty phenomenal achievement and a beautiful piece of art. Huge props to Invisible Designs Lab’s Kenjiro Matsuo for making this crazy idea reality.
Bobby
Comments
If you've got something to say, keep it positive.Indeed, that phone is pretty goofy… I wonder if a bean-shaped faux-wood phone would sell in America? I doubt it.
Anyway, a very fun video.
…and they did it all with the Canon 7D and 5D Mark II!
I’ve watched this video +8 times now. Is there an official way I can get the audio, because the rolling music sound is the most relaxing thing I’ve heard in a long time?
When I first saw this and sent it to my dad we both wished that we were actually seeing the ENTIRE sculpture, rather than just a section at a time edited together. I wonder if they actually built the entire song or built a 200ft section and shot, then re-set the notes for the next section of music and shot again. Regardless of how the video was made, it’s still impressive and I think the TENT in the background around 1:55 says a lot about the amount of work that went into it:-)
such a shame that the phone this video advertises is so damn ugly
I also wrote about this viral video on my blog last week…It’s a Rube Goldberg musical instrument, and there’s an iPhone cover that is similar to the Touch Wood phone, in case you don’t want an all wood phone. :) http://goodwithstyle.typepad.com/emilyanderson/2011/04/touchwood-iphone-case-genius-design-.html
Could have been called “If a Ball Plays Bach in a Forest and No One is There to Hear it Does it Make a Sound?”
Phenomenal! The sound is great and the deer sure look impressed..the phone meant nothing to me but the xylophone sure did!
the phone looks like a potato, but awesome video, very creative!!
…I thought that the phone actually looked kinda cool. Maybe it’s because I’m a hipster? XD
Just amazing!
what a great commercial. ultra cool ad creates ultra cool phone… that’s the idea anyway.
Great video. Love the plink plink sound of Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring
AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That must have taken a lot of time to build and calculations to be done to figure out the correct size for each board to make the correct note. Fabulous!
And people think that engineers do not have a soft musical side. So much for that conventional wisdom. Congratulations. Outstanding.
All this to sell a phone?
Sick.
Where was this filmed? I’d love to go to this forest.
I love this website but do not have twitter, just facebook. How do I get it to my like list of facebook?
For those who are interested, there are more stills plus a making of video at http://www.invisi.jp/works/xylophone/index.php. The text is in Japanese, but the images give a pretty good picture of what went into it. Goddamn!
Art like this should not be soiled by the evils of marketing and advertising.
I would so buy this phone. It looks adorable and way more original than any phone I’ve ever seen!
One of my favorite pieces of music, and done so beautifully and skillfully!
Though I agree with Billy in part, the odd thing is that marketing often drives art. Would they have done this for art alone if there were no drive to sell attached?
As seen through the eyes of a musician all I can say is this piece combines music and nature in such a poignant and beautiful way. My deepest respect to those who created it for whatever reason.
Now I’m not usually a skeptic, but I am an audio engineer and the entire thing seems fake to me. Without going into too much detail, I think that it is totally possible to make this look real without putting too much effort into it and then make it sound real by professionals who do this kind of work (ADR). What is tipping me off here is that the sound quality is way too crisp to recorded outside without planting mics (that would be visible in plenty of shots) everywhere. If this is real kudos to them, if it isn’t kudos to them anyway for making this so convincing and coming up with an idea that is really cool in and of itself. If anybody wants to contend me on this one, feel free… just don’t be insulting about it. Thx.