German musician and sculptor Armin Küpper was out jogging one morning when he stumbled upon a set of huge gas pipes just lying in a field. Because he was intrigued (and a creative thinker and musician), he thought it would be interesting to sing into the pipes to see how it sounded. Much as he suspected, his song returned to him via a wonderfully haunting echo. Delighted, he decided to return later to the same spot, this time bringing his saxophone with him. He couldn’t wait to see what it sounded like. As he suspected it would be, it was absolutely incredible.
When he played his sax into the long metal tubes, it allowed for a natural reverb and a delay that accompanied his notes in what ended up being perfect pitch. The sound of the tubes has a kind of “loneliness” about it that is mesmerizing to hear, even on YouTube where he uploaded the videos of his solo performance. On YouTube and other social media platforms, his videos soon went viral, and since then, he’s been returning frequently to the same location so that he can keep jamming with the long metal pipes.
Armin has also brought his guitar on some of his visits so that he could play that into the pipes, but nothing rivaled his saxophone playing. The saxophone has such a special sound. It can sound jazzy when it’s played in some music, but it can be mournful at times as well. A woodwind instrument that’s usually made of brass, the sax is categorized as a woodwind because it’s the thin can reeds that produce the sound.
Armin has been working on an album of his gas pipe concerts, so pretty soon we’ll all be able to enjoy his beautiful music at a whole different level. Watch his video below.
