Musical Instruments - Music Month

Tanner 0:01

I can't tell a woodwind from a brass. I'm really, really bad.

Sups 0:06

Of all of his inventions Benjamin Franklin, he later said that the glass of Monica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction. Oh

Andi 0:15

wow. Wow. Not electricity.

Tanner 0:19

you still have to fit it between your knees.

Andi 0:21

Yeah.

Sups 0:21

What,

Tanner 0:22

I'm just like straddling this thing like a horse,

Andi 0:25

hello and welcome to this episode of I Should Have Known the Trivia Game Show that Can't Be Trusted. Each week, one of our quiz masters will present you with four facts about a topic, but one of those facts is a lie, and we are celebrating music this month. It's a very musical theme. And today's episode, our quizmaster is soups. Hello. And soups is doing a find the fake episode on musical instruments from around the world. So he will present us with four musical instruments and play a recording of them, but one of these instruments he has invented. So join me, Andy, and our other host Tanner, and figuring out which one is the fake.

Sups 1:04

Just so you are aware for the fake one, The audio is often instrument. Mm-hmm. But that's not the right instrument. Yeah. Okay. Yeah,

Andi 1:11

that's what I thought. Yeah. So it's some other instrument. Probably one we should maybe know.

Sups 1:17

Yes, exactly.

Andi 1:17

I'm a little nervous about that. How,

Sups 1:20

how good are you generally in identifying instruments?

Tanner 1:23

Terrible. I can't tell a woodwind from a brass. I'm really, really bad.

Andi 1:29

It's true. there'll be a flute part. He'll be like, is this a trumpet? Is that

Tanner 1:32

Trump? Was that, what was that?

Sups 1:33

So we are gonna explore some more interesting instruments from around the world. But before we get started, let's do our P Q Q. The pop quiz question. Mm-hmm. How many strings does the bass guitar have?

Andi 1:47

You got this

Tanner 1:48

team? This is my domain. I do know about the bass guitar, so mine had four strings. Okay, so I'm gonna say four.

Sups 1:56

I like that. It's not a personalized guitar, like no. Yes. Tanner Tanner. generally bass guitars Have four strings. Yes.

Andi 2:01

Nailed it.

Tanner 2:03

Yeah.

Sups 2:03

Cool. So first I'm going to play the music. Mm-hmm. And then I'm gonna tell you about the instrument, and then I'll tell you the story behind these instruments and everything that you need to know. All right? Okay. So you're ready for instrument number

Andi 2:16

one? Yeah. But remember, one of these is

Tanner 2:18

Mm-hmm.

Sups 2:19

Correct. All right.

Tanner 2:43

All right. Okay.

Sups 2:43

Okay. Any idea?

Tanner 2:45

Sounded like glasses. You know, playing the rims of glasses.

Sups 2:49

I like where you're thinking because the name of the instrument is the glass harmonica. Oh

Tanner 2:53

Ah,

Andi 2:54

okay. Okay.

Sups 2:55

This was invented by Benjamin Franklin while living in London in 1761. Wow. So during. Mid 17 hundreds, it was quite popular for like amateur musicians to perform on sets of musical glasses.

Andi 3:11

Mm-hmm.

Sups 3:11

He used to attend many of these concerts and, his English friend called Edward Deville, he was playing a tune on wine glasses filled with water. So exactly what this was sounding like. And our guy, Benjamin, the moment he heard it and he was like, Hmm, okay, this is good. So the instrument is made from 37 glass bowls of varying thickness, Arranged horizontally, Okay. Of all of his inventions Benjamin Franklin, he later said that the glass of Monica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction. Oh

Andi 3:46

wow. Wow. Not electricity. The glass harmonica you guys.

Tanner 3:51

He made bifocals. like he would be

Andi 3:52

flying the The glass harmonica. Slaps. Okay. Like, yeah. Electricity, bifocals, democracy, libraries. Who cares? exactly. This

Sups 4:02

This thing. There are some people who are still playing it, but it's not really, let's say, a famous instrument. But it was very famous when it was launched and it caught the attention of our guy,

Tanner 4:12

Oh,

Sups 4:13

Oh, he heard it. He was very impressed. Also the tune that we heard is actually Mozart's creation, and he created just for this instrument. Mm-hmm. And another very proficient player of this instrument is Mary Antoinette.

Tanner 4:26

Oh.

Sups 4:27

She was also a big fan of this,

Tanner 4:29

Very cool.

Andi 4:30

Well, you know how I feel about the 18th century. Yeah. So I feel like this fits right in. Mm-hmm.

Tanner 4:35

Mm-hmm. Everything ostentatious and just like, Wealth. flaunting for no

Andi 4:39

For purpose. Yeah. It also has to be crystal glass. So it can't just be any glass. That's why like you can't do it like with a wine glass that you just buy from the store. Right. it has to be the most expensive kind of glass that you can get. Yeah. So, yeah,

Tanner 4:51

And they're just like so bored

Andi 4:53

at the dinner parties. They're bored. Imagine Imagine how boring your life. must be that like playing glass is like the most interesting thing. Yeah. This is just the hit of the time. So like I know that an instrument called the glass harmonica exists. Mm-hmm.

Tanner 5:07

Mm-hmm.

Andi 5:08

What he played that and is this whole story about Ben Franklin and Mozart and Marie Antoinette, like it's a lot of you know, heavy hitters being like, dropped

Tanner 5:17

in there. Yeah. Yeah. Connecting all those dots. Yeah.

Andi 5:20

Like, I don't know.

Tanner 5:21

Yeah. I'm very inclined to believe this one because I'm terrible at identifying music and instruments and sounds, and the fact that it sounded like how he described it. the music matched what I thought. Yeah.

Andi 5:33

even said it is like people playing glass

Tanner 5:35

Exactly. So it's like, okay, The whole story does sound kind of fishy with all the famous people.

Andi 5:40

But I don't know so far. you know, if I had to pick right now, I think it, it's probably real, but I need to hear more to know for sure. Yeah.

Sups 5:47

Sounds good. Let's move on to our second instrument. Let's hear it first.

Tanner 5:52

Mm-hmm.

Andi 6:13

some kind of

Tanner 6:14

Sounds like a drum, like a little bongo, but then. Also like wrapping against like a door jam almost like dun dun, dun dun.

Andi 6:21

Yeah.

Sups 6:22

So the name of this instrument, what you just heard it's called Bam Bong Goon. So this is a folk instrument from Central Africa. This was invented by the Bacca people. Mm-hmm. They are indigenous to Central Africa, primarily in Cameroon, Central Republic, Congo, Gaon. The Bacca people. They have a rich cultural heritage that is deeply connected to the rainforest. their music often features complex poly rhythms and. vocal harmonies. Okay. Yeah. so this babo goon according to a legend, was created when bacca hunters, they discovered a grove of bamboo that had been struck by lightning. Mm. So it like broke Two. Two. Yeah. They noticed that the hollowed out bamboo stalks produced a unique sound mm-hmm. When you put them together. Mm-hmm. And to play the bamb bong go they take the instrument and put it in between their knees. Right, right, right. Yeah. And then strike the top of the bamboo.

Tanner 7:19

But is something stretched across the top like a drum? Or is it just the hole,

Sups 7:23

There is a skin.

Andi 7:24

it's played with your hands or with mallets

Sups 7:26

It can be done both ways. What you heard was hand, but you can also use a mallet to produce the sound.

Andi 7:34

Okay. Interesting story.

Tanner 7:36

Mm-hmm.

Andi 7:37

Do

Tanner 7:37

think it's real?

Andi 7:38

I mean, oh man. It's so hard about how the instrument will be fake.

Tanner 7:42

I could also make up a drum and what would I make it out of Bamboo, you know? But would I come up with this

Andi 7:49

whole story I don't, I didn't know Bamboo grew in Central Africa. Right, But I don't know botany very well.

Sups 7:56

well.

Tanner 7:57

I'm not Don't, pick the fake because of your botany knowledge

Andi 8:00

Mm-hmm. No. I'm having a hard time picturing it. Mm-hmm. Because how wide does Bamboo get? Like even really wide bamboo is still only like, pretty small.

Tanner 8:11

Mm-hmm. Maybe it depends on the length of the tube to make it deeper.

Andi 8:15

Well, yeah, that would affect the sound. But I was saying like to play. There's not a lot of space there for,

Tanner 8:19

Oh. you know, to hit

Andi 8:20

a very big thing so that's fishy to me. But I still, I'm still having a hard time with the drum itself. Yeah. Unless this is some real, real thick bamboo. Yeah. Like,

Tanner 8:30

really, really wide, like redwood size. You're thinking

Andi 8:32

maybe not that big. Dang.

Tanner 8:34

you still have to fit it between your knees.

Andi 8:36

Yeah.

Sups 8:37

What,

Tanner 8:37

I'm just like straddling this thing like a horse, you know, just like

Sups 8:41

hop on. I mean, we are still talking about musical instruments here.

Tanner 8:44

Yeah. So I'm, I'm more inclined to think that this one is fake than the first.

Andi 8:47

Yeah. So I need to hear the other two before I can

Sups 8:51

Only all right, so let's move on to our third instrument.

Tanner 9:19

Okay. I'm in two camps here first, and this is really tells you how little I know about instruments. I think it sounds a lot like a reed instrument, like you're blowing on like literally a piece of grass or something that vibrates really closely, like a horn or something. And then also, I could totally believe that it was like a string or like a piece of metal that you're just like playing with a bow. So I have no idea.

Sups 9:43

this instrument is called Shenai. Okay. And from Africa, we travel all the way to India now. Mm-hmm. This is a traditional wind instrument from India. The closest Western cousin would be the obo.

Andi 9:56

Yeah.

Tanner 9:56

Oh, okay. instrument It is reed. Huh.

Sups 9:58

So it is believed to have originated in the Indian subcontinent around the 16th century when the moguls were ruling India. Mm-hmm. The shenai is made of wood with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden bell at the other.

Tanner 10:13

Ooh.

Sups 10:14

The last two holes are left open and used for tuning. So the name Shehnai actually comes from the Persian Shah and Night Sha. the royalty, right? The king. Yep. And NAI is like a generic term for any kind of windblown flute like instrument. So like flute. Yeah. Okay. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So in other words, it's like the king of flutes or a flute fit for

Andi 10:37

king Yeah, I was gonna say

Sups 10:38

the

Tanner 10:38

the king's flute. I like the king of flutes. All the flutes

Andi 10:41

are in front of me.

Tanner 10:42

and it's the

Andi 10:42

king. bow before me.

Sups 10:45

So Shehnai it's used in all auspicious occasions. So in an Indian wedding, in a Hindu Indian wedding, you will always hear Shehnai. Mm-hmm. Before. In villages, whenever there used to be any wedding or something a group of people, they would just sit on the rooftop and they would play shenai, and that's how the villagers would know that okay, there is something like a function

Tanner 11:07

going on. Nice.

Andi 11:08

almost like, it kind of reminds me of like, the called a prayer? Oh yeah, yeah, But that's like a person doing it. Right. It's like a crier. Yeah. The town crier here, you

Tanner 11:16

hear me come like there's a

Andi 11:18

a function,

Tanner 11:18

there's an event.

Sups 11:19

Yeah, exactly. So the sound of shenai would then draw you draw, follow the song. I mean, before in weddings you would have like live performance. But now I think everybody just playing like recorded. Yeah. Like I would say 90% of weddings I have been to on the day of the reception. Like this music. is just blasting. Yes,

Tanner 11:39

Hmm.

Sups 11:40

the shanay.

Tanner 11:41

Shahani. So how real do you think this is?

Andi 11:43

real. It's hard for me to figure out where the fake part could be. Of course. You know, soup's, bringing in, in Indian stuff is always like, I'm gonna get you guys,

Tanner 11:52

Yeah. instantly. I'm very suspicious of this. Yeah, yeah. Because it's Indian, so it's like, crap. He knows. I don't know.

Andi 11:59

But see, at this point, it's his fault. We, don't know.

Sups 12:02

it's

Tanner 12:03

true How many Indian weddings have I been. invited to?

Andi 12:05

yeah, right.

Tanner 12:06

I mean the sound matched the description to me. I think it might be real, but I'm still very suspicious of it.

Andi 12:12

okay. more

Sups 12:13

One more. Okay. So let's move on to our fourth instrument

Tanner 12:35

in instantly I am. Struck with a guitar, sitar vibe or a piano. Like some strings are either being plucked or drummed, but that's as far as I know.

Sups 12:46

Okay.

Andi 12:47

I love it.

Sups 12:48

So

Andi 12:48

entertaining.

Tanner 12:50

what do you

Andi 12:51

think? Well, yeah, there's clearly strings. Okay. I think it's probably the kind of string instrument that it's horizontal, you sit on a table. Mm-hmm. And you need two hands to play

Tanner 13:00

Oh, okay.

Andi 13:01

I think Yeah. But

Sups 13:03

Okay, cool. A lot of your description is right. This is the National Instrument of Japan called the Koto.

Tanner 13:11

Okay.

Sups 13:12

So Koto originated actually in China and was introduced to Japan during the Nara period in the eighth century. then when it came to Japan, then it sort of continued. Developing independently of the Chinese version. The Koto is a large rounded wooden instrument with 13 strings. Oh. So it's around 63 to 79 inches long, and about big 12 inches across.

Andi 13:40

Mm-hmm. Yeah. so does it sit upright or flat?

Sups 13:44

it used to be always placed on the ground. So you sat and you played, but now there are like tables, so you can actually put it on the table. Yeah. Sit on the chair stand and, yeah, that is possible.. So traditionally the coto is always stringed with silk. The strings are plucked with picks called sume, which are attached to the player's fingers. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And as you heard from the sound, it's a very unique sound, very delicate. Powerful. throughout the Different emperors or different dynasties ruling Japan? starting from the Nara period. Yeah. It was very popular. It was during the Hayan period in the ninth century that the Koto became like an important instrument in the Japanese court music and also in the Eddo period in the 17th and 18th century. It became a very popular instrument among the samurai. Mmm. Okay. And the Koto music actually expresses seasons.

Tanner 14:38

Okay. Like Vivaldi,

Sups 14:39

Yeah. Yeah. They have music dedicated to this.

Andi 14:43

Mm-hmm.

Tanner 14:43

Mm.

Sups 14:44

So that is the Coto from Japan.

Tanner 14:47

Wow. I'm really afraid of embarrassing myself when you said it's the national instrument, like So first the mechanics of it, right. 13 strings compared to that bass we talked about. That is a lot of strings. Yeah, but there's silk, so they must be very fine, you could fit 13 strings across, what'd you say the width was?

Sups 15:08

inches or 79

Tanner 15:09

And Yeah. So that would be my thing. How do you fit that many strings on it?

Andi 15:14

Okay. I'm not with you on that. Okay. that's not an area where I have a problem. Okay. I did instantly think East Asia when I heard this, so that seems to track. Yeah, I mean, nothing about the description doesn't match what We heard from the instrument. Right. So it's definitely not like, that's not the fake part. That's not the lie. Yeah.

Tanner 15:33

I mean, You could make up that story like, okay, it's Japanese. Okay, so the emperor likes it. All right, so what Dynasty used it? I'll just pick one. Right?

Andi 15:41

Right? And then

Tanner 15:41

like all the ones after that used it

Andi 15:43

too. He did kind of do the Japanese version of the European thing at the beginning where it's, let me just hit every like really famous thing. okay, these are all Japanese buzzwords. Okay, let's put 'em all, plug 'em all in. It's very similar to the. Description for the first one, right. Where it's like, let me just name every famous European from this time period. Right? So like, that is sketchy.

Tanner 16:04

And then the fake would just be that the recording was a guitar. You know, it's just someone playing a Yeah.

Andi 16:08

Guitar

Tanner 16:09

laid down. Yeah.

Andi 16:09

That's not impossible. Yeah. Yeah, it's just kind of like, this one's tricky because there's just very little to go on, which maybe is why it's not true.

Tanner 16:18

Right. But I mean, on the surface, Nothing jumps out at me as a lie or as fake. It sounds pretty good.

Andi 16:25

Yeah,

Tanner 16:26

yeah. And the seasons thing was still a fit. You know, they play

Andi 16:28

for whatever.

Tanner 16:29

Yeah, right.

Andi 16:30

It's like literally just Vivaldi. that's funny. So that is kind of a bit sketchier.

Tanner 16:35

Yeah.

Andi 16:35

he has to invent the instrument and the story and then is playing a different instrument for us. So I think Japan has stringed instruments Yes. That are played like he described. Yeah. So I don't know. That's hard. So we have four to choose from now. Yeah. so one of them is fake. So soups, can you just remind us of the four instruments and then we will decide which one we think you made up.

Sups 16:56

Okay. the first instrument was the Glass Armonica invented by Benjamin Franklin. The second was the Bam Bong Goon. This is a folk instrument from Central Africa, invented by the Bakar people. The third instrument is Shehnai, a traditional wind instrument from India. And number four was Coto, which is considered as the national instrument of Japan.

Tanner 17:30

ooh.

Andi 17:31

Okay, So

Tanner 17:33

I definitely have some opinions. Okay. I think I have convinced myself that the fourth one is a fake,

Andi 17:40

I feel the same way actually. I also was like, I think the fourth one is something

Tanner 17:47

else. Yeah. I totally believe Ben Franklin invented the first

Andi 17:50

one. I mean, I don't believe that, but I

Tanner 17:52

I that. Yeah. And then the second one,

Andi 17:55

yeah. it's hard to picture how that works, but also like after hearing the other two, I feel more confident of that one now

Tanner 18:02

it's bamboo bongos. I get it. Sure, sure.

Andi 18:04

sure.

Tanner 18:04

that works.

Andi 18:06

he could've just made that up though.

Tanner 18:08

And the Koto,

Andi 18:10

I feel like there's something there. That I'm missing. Yeah. I have this like feeling in the back of my head that like, you're missing something and I'm like, I don't know what it is. I think I wanna go with that one.

Tanner 18:20

Okay.

Andi 18:21

feel like this one is also like the most fable. Mm-hmm. You know, like the story wasn't very deep or detailed. Mm-hmm. Like the other ones. Right.

Tanner 18:29

yeah. into it.

Andi 18:30

its, I'm just kidding.

Sups 18:32

I

Andi 18:32

don't know. I,

Tanner 18:33

I one. Okay. So if you're going with number four

Andi 18:36

Yeah. Then

Tanner 18:36

I think I'm gonna do the bamboo bongo one. Oh, with I'm gonna go with

Andi 18:40

I'm just gonna, I'm not gonna pick same You just gonna hear that. Okay. we are leaving in the Indian the king of flutes. We're leaving the Indian. Anyone on the table? Yeah. Oh no. We happy though. We're so doomed. Also, how embarrassing would it be if it's like Ben Franklin like, your country

Sups 18:56

and did

Andi 18:56

invent this?

Tanner 18:58

just play us out,

Andi 18:58

Just play us out.

Sups 19:00

You're not doomed. You're not doomed. At least one of you isn't. Koto exists. It's the national instrument of Japan. Oh.

Tanner 19:06

no way.

Sups 19:07

So bam, Bon Goon is a beautiful name that was invented by yours, truly. The music instrument that you were listening to is actually a djembe.

Andi 19:18

Mm-hmm.

Tanner 19:18

oh, I have heard of a djembe

Sups 19:19

Totally made up story. I mean, like, yeah, sure music is important for Bacca

Tanner 19:23

Yeah. but

Sups 19:24

there's nothing like ba

Andi 19:26

Yeah.

Sups 19:26

ba goon is a totally yeah. Invented name. A combination of three words, which is bamboo, bongo, and Cameroon. There you go. Yeah.

Tanner 19:35

Goon. And the story of it lightning striking and everything. That's so great.

Sups 19:39

Yes. I try to connect like the rainforest and the Yeah. Nature and

Andi 19:43

Wow. that was cool. Yeah, I should have known. I Thanks for listening to this episode of, I should have known if you are listening slash watching on YouTube, do all the YouTubey things like subscribe, comment. If you're listening on a traditional podcast platform, it would be great if you could leave us a review. You can also on some of them, Comment as well. So let us know what you thought. Did you figure out soups is fake instrument? What are some other interesting instruments that we missed? And also, if you'd like to support the show, you can do that. on Patreon, which is a subscription platform where you can. Give a monthly donation, help fund the show and you'll get fun. Bonus things. We do have some bonus content on there that you can only exclusively get there. And we'll be continuing music for the rest of the month. Next week we are gonna be talking about the Grammys and I'll be your quizmaster for that one. So stay tuned for that. And as always, thanks for listening.

Sups 20:39

Okay.