You see, you play this note/tadpole-shaped instrument by tapping or sliding your finger up and down the neck. But you can also adjust the pitch by squeezing the face at the bottom to open and close the mouth.

It's certainly not going to be included in any symphony orchestras anytime soon, but it's a whimsical piece of fun. And if you watch no other part of the video you owe it to yourself to watch the end, where Novmichi plays The Star Spangled Banner in a wig and sunglasses. Amazing. [Maywa Denki via Tokyo Mango via Boing Boing Gadgets]

It was made from the bone of a giant vulture during the Upper Paleolithic. Found in Ach Valley, in the south of Germany, the 8.7-inch long, one-inch diameter instrument has five holes, with two V-shaped notches carved on one side of it. This was the part in which the musician put the lips to blow, according to University of Tubingen's professor Nicholas Conard, the lead author of the discovery. The other end is broken just on the fifth hole.

Also according to the study, it was capable of producing a note range similar to those of modern flutes. Conard also points that while music probably didn't have much to do in the success of the first modern humans, it could have given them an advantage against the Neanderthals:

Upper Palaeolithic music could have contributed to the maintenance of large social networks, and thereby have helped facilitate the demographic and territorial expansion of modern humans compared to the more culturally conservative and isolated Neanderthals

[AFP]

Leaf Trombone World Stage includes new, never-seen-before iPhone features, such as:

Self tutorial — a music box accompanies users as leaves softly float toward the correct notes, enabling users to learn the song, simply by following the leaves on the screen and moving the Leaf Trombone up and down; similar in concept to Guitar Hero

Judging capabilities — Anyone can perform a tune on the Leaf Trombone before a global audience

Once a player has submitted a song to the World Stage, self-appointed judges, randomly selected from anywhere in the world, providing an instant critique of the performance, using a combination of emoticons and text

Judges can rate each performance using a 1-10 scale. The evaluation is then added to player's standings and the player's rank is updated

Sophisticated browser-based composition tool provides unlimited new music

A new interactive learning tool enabling anyone to compose and create music for the Leaf Trombone

This is from the same people who made the Ocarina app, in case you were wondering about its pedigree. Some more demo videos here, here and here. Just don't load them all at the same time like I did, and pass out from the cacophony. [App Store]

Listening Test: It's music tech week at Gizmodo.

Strap the Maestro onto any guitar, load a music file with the songs you need to learn, and then little laser lights will point out the way to play chords. Only, the hardest part of learning the guitar for me was switching your hand fast enough between chords, not actually knowing which to press since most tablatures already had that covered...

So I take it back. This is worse than the self-playing piano. Also, I wish I had musical talent. [Dvice]

Leon rescued the organ, which was originally dubbed "the Lion," from the Lake Theater in Crystal Lake. The installation must've been tricky, since it pretty much filled his entire basement, and got in the way of his furnace plumbing.

We're as amazed by it as his neighbors must've been... and probably equally as worried about his slightly odd personality in the film clip. At least he was polite and safely cocooned downstairs, Phantom of the Opera-like, rather than roaming the streets. We can't help but wonder what he sat and played down there? [ and MAKE]

Each of these cells, when created in a 3-D printer, can be made in any size or shape —or with any material in order to achieve a custom sound. Zoran also envisions a website with recommended sound cell designs that musicians can use to get started. I'm not sure how plausible all of this is, but I certainly like the idea—not to mention the look of the instruments he has come up with. [Architectradure via Design Blog via Gearfuse]

Of course, playing a clarinet—and in turn, this USB wind instrument—is harder than playing the piano, which means this whole contraption would probably only be useful for existing clarinet players who didn't want to go to the trouble of learning keyboards. That's a gigantic market right there. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Ion Audio via Everything USB via Crunchgear]