AIR Studio ruins - Friths Road, Montserrat, Caribbean
George Martin, Beatles producer, had a studio on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. The building now crumbles, in the shade of an active volcano. There is an abandoned outdoor swimming pool, a studio overgrown with vegetation, but with leftover pieces of recording equipment used to make so many famous albums of the past. Greats such as Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Michael Jackson recorded here, while enjoying a stay in what was a piece of Caribbean paradise.
George Martin's AIR studio is a symbol of Montserrat's lost era as a pop music hub.https://t.co/XPcWXZ47e2 pic.twitter.com/SQpHqTgMC9
— Anne Sewell (@anners2008) February 1, 2019
Coleman Theatre - 103 N Main St, Miami, Oklahoma, USA
Back in the days before “talkies,” silent movies had pipe organ music as a background in the theatre. Built in 1929, the Coleman Theatre still retains its splendour as a former movie palace and vaudeville theatre. The original “Mighty Wurlitzer” pipe organ was initially sold to pay expenses, but was returned to the theatre in 1996 and can be heard playing the musical accompaniment to many silent film classics, just like it did back in 1929.
Auschwitz musical arrangements found in archive
The sign at the entrance of the Nazi concentration camp reads "work sets you free," but that wasn't the case for most prisoners there. Camp commandant, Rudolf Höss decided music would encourage a rhythm to the prisoners’ labour, music that was provided by the prisoners themselves. They were forced to play music during executions and other events. One of the tunes was the sardonic “The Most Beautiful Time of Life.” The manuscripts were found by professor of music theory Patricia Hall.
The wacky jazz sound of the Milky Way
Heading a little further afield, Mark Heyer, an astronomer with the University of Massachusetts, examined the clouds of gas in the Milky Way. He discovered a way to convert the motion into sound, with various pitches sounding like a wacky jazz ensemble. Listen to the “sound” of atomic, ionized and molecular gases below.
Estey Organ Company - Brattleboro, Vermont, USA
Brattleboro, Vermont takes organ donation to a whole different meaning. Around 1970, J. Estey and Company produced over 500,000 organs. However, in 1960, the assembly lines shut down. Improbably, hundreds of organs started returning to the town as families donated them. The historical society didn’t know what to do with them. However, they chose the most playable and interesting organs and opened the Estey Organ Museum in the factory premises. They have so many they have to store some next door.