A waterphone is a type of atonal acoustic musical instrument constructed largely of a stainless steel resonator "bowl" with a cylindrical "neck", which may or may not contain a small amount of water, and with brass rods around the rim of the bowl. The waterphone produces a vibrant ethereal type of music.
Several sizes and design variants of the instrument are available. It is generally played in a seated position by a soloist and played by bowing or drumming and movement so as to affect the water inside, and thus the resonant characteristics of the bowl and rods. The waterphone is recognized as a true musical instrument and appears in movie soundtracks, record albums, and is used in live performance.
The waterphone is a modern invention inspired by the "Tibetan Water Drum, a round, slightly flattened, bronze, drum with an aperture in the center top," according to the inventor of the waterphone, Richard A. Waters. The waterphone in part revives the sound-producing principle of an earlier instrument called a nail violin, which also used a resonator and rods (nails), and was struck or bowed.[1]
Contemporary classical composers who have written parts for waterphone in compositions include Sofia Gubaidulina, Jerry Goldsmith, John Mackey, Tan Dun, Christopher Rouse, Colin Matthews, Carson Cooman, Andi Spicer, Andrew Carter and Todd Barton. It has also been used prominently by rock musicians Richard Barone and Alex Wong (when playing with Vienna Teng) and can be heard in music by The Harmonica Pocket. Canadian musician/composer, Robert Minden, has been composing for his collection of vintage Richard Waters waterphones on many recordings since the mid 1980s. "Like Light Off Water" [1] uses 5 unique waterphones created by Richard Waters between 1975- 1990.[2] Worlds Away (Strange Advance album)
The waterphone has been featured in the soundtracks to many movies, including Let the Right One In (film) (2008), The Matrix, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Dark Water (2002 film), and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, ALIENS, as well as in Tan Dun's opera The First Emperor (2006). A sound sample can be found at The Freesound Project.[3]