There are plenty of things that we've seen, heard, and done with the iPhone. But an "iPhone orchestra" isn't one of them. Until now, that is.
According to 9to5Mac:
Students at the University of Michigan are learning to design, build and play instruments on their Apple smartphones as part of a course called "Building a Mobile Phone Ensemble". This course is taught by Georg Essl, a computer scientist and musician who has worked on developing mobile phones and musical instruments.
The touch-screen, microphone, GPS, compass, wireless sensor, and accelerometer can all be transformed so that when a performer runs their finger across the display, blows air into the mic, tilts or shakes the phone, for example, different sounds emanate.
In the history of music, experimentation with electronic devices have led to the discovery and development of new instruments, like the synthesizer and theremin. Could the iPhone be the newest acquisition of the world's finest orchestras? From the looks of things pretty soon there could be an app for that.
“The mobile phone is a very nice platform for exploring new forms of musical performance," Essl said. "We're not tethered to the physics of traditional instruments. We can do interesting, weird, unusual things. "This kind of technology is in its infancy, but it's a hot and growing area to use iPhones for artistic expression."
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