Tubular Tunes: The Plosiphone

Never one to shy away from ambitious projects, it was during the planning phase of a 70 meter long backyard roller coaster that I stumbled upon a niche YouTube community of people who, inspired by the Blue Man Group, had designed and built their own musical instruments out of PVC pipe. As a lifelong musician, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make one for myself, so I quickly switched gears to concentrate on this new project – to the relief of my parents, who no longer had to worry about an amusement park on their property.

Using CAD skills I had been learning in my engineering classes, I whipped up a digital model of the assembly to guide my building process. Despite the unique sound of resonating plastic pipes, I wanted the instrument to maintain a fairly “traditional” nature (i.e. I wanted it to feel as though it could be a part of any band or orchestra), so I arranged the notes in the same pattern as similar existing instruments: pianos, marimbas, xylophones, etc. The name, “plosiphone”, comes from the combination of the parts “plosive” describing a sudden compression and release of air, and “phone” meaning sound.

Though I originally intended the project to be a one-off, I had severely underestimated the amount of use it would get. I uploaded this video in 2011, right after I finished constructing the first plosiphone. Today, it has over 4 million views. I put up a few more videos online over the next few years, but I also began performing at talent shows, parties, and even my local Solo and Ensemble Festival – where I received top scores in all categories.

The first plosiphone had been designed to fit in the family minivan. However, thinking it would facilitate future maintenance, I had not glued any of the joints together. After repeatedly having pipes fall out mid-performance, it quickly became apparent that a redesign was a necessity. The new version would be more compact, stronger, and much lighter (the original was build out of solid redwood). Additionally, the new aluminum and plywood frame provided a top surface to set paddles and sheet music.

This new and improved plosiphone has easily been my favorite project I’ve ever undertaken. Not only has it provided so many wonderful opportunities for me to perform, it quickly became a staple exhibit as part of the Creative Technologies Association at Boise State: helping get kids of all ages excited about music, science, and engineering.

I don’t get quite as many opportunities to perform anymore as I did for a while. However, in the spirit of continual improvement, I am in the process of building a third plosiphone – meant to solve several minor problems with the second version and be my final creation. I will make sure to update this post when it is complete.