Hydraulist

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A hydraulist is a musician who plays a hydraulic instrument, such as a water organ or a hydraulophone.

[edit] Notable hydraulists

Whereas hydraulists in Roman times pressed keys to open air valves to allow a water-powered wind source to blow air into wind pipes, modern hydraulists make sound with water, using a new instrument called a hydraulophone. At the International Computer Music Conference sounds from acoustic hydraulophones were picked up using hydrophones (underwater microphones) and fed through computer systems to create new musical textures for an underwater hydraulophone concert.
Whereas hydraulists in Roman times pressed keys to open air valves to allow a water-powered wind source to blow air into wind pipes, modern hydraulists make sound with water, using a new instrument called a hydraulophone. At the International Computer Music Conference sounds from acoustic hydraulophones were picked up using hydrophones (underwater microphones) and fed through computer systems to create new musical textures for an underwater hydraulophone concert.
  • Nero, Emperor of Rome, was a hydraulist, playing on the hydraulis, a pipe organ in which the power source for the wind (air) blown into the pipes, comes from a standpipe full of water.
  • Ryan Janzen is a modern-day composer for hydraulophone. Works include Suite for Hydraulophone, and various orchestral compositions for hydraulophone. Janzen was a hydraulist at Nuit Blanche, the all night arts festival.