You just know the kind of organ Beethoven would have chosen to print |
The idea of a musician being able to design and create that pipe organ is what really intrigues me. Thinking about pipe organs naturally leads to thoughts of Beethoven. I'm guessing Beethoven would also have been more interested in printing a pipe organ than a fresh new lung or kidney.
Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium!
(Joy, beautiful spark of the divinity,
Daughter from Elysium!)
These lyrics, from Beethoven's famed 9'th symphony, enhance one of the most beloved classical music pieces in the western world*. Beloved by people, that is, who have access to classical music training. Outside of choral singing, for those who come equipped with the right sort of vocal chords, that training requires access to a musical instrument.
Though this symphony has words, the emotions that stir in the hearts of the performers as they come together to make this music happen, can't be accurately described. In fact, it spoils the experience if you try.
Any parent who has ever ponied up for an organ, clarinet, french horn, string bass, or flute knows that a child's access to an instrument of her own can make all the difference, when it comes to being exposed to the wordless and wonderful joys of making her own music. Will many kids give up before the age of 10? You bet. Is there any guarantee that an individual will make it to even third chair violin in a small local symphony? Nope.
But I know that if, at the age of 8, more kids are given the opportunity to play a hundred renditions of Frère Jacque on that french horn they printed at home, then one day the freude! of Beethoven's 9'th symphony is going to be waiting out there for one more kid looking for a little wordless wonder.
And one more kid is going to get a chance to be a part of a wordless spark of divinity, at one with the daughter from Elysium.
~ ~ ~
Web Resources
Wikipedia: 3D Printing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing
Six 3D - Printed Musical Instruments and what 3D Printing Could Do for Musicians http://createdigitalmusic.com/2012/10/six-3d-printed-musical-instruments-and-what-3d-printing-could-do-for-musicians/
Beethoven's 9'th Symphony Rules Supreme, as far as I'm concerned. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_(Beethoven)
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