Moving Parts Make Holiday Music

from National Public Radio

A bike manufacturer commissioned composer Flip Baber to create holiday music using only bicycle parts.

About the Project

"Since Jingle Bells is a little overdone this time of year, I thought Tchaikovsky's 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy' (from the Nutcracker Suite) would be a great alternative," Baber says. "At first I didn't think it could be done, but as I recorded hundreds of sounds from a road bike and mountain bike it started to take shape."

Here are the mechanical ingredients he used:

• Glockenspiel and clarinet melody: Spokes.

• Cello and violin pizzicatos: Plucked derailleur cables.

• Triangle: Disc brake hit.

• Percussion: Shifting, coasting, finger over turning spokes, chain pulls, braking, clipping into pedals, back-spinning, air out of tires.

Broadcast Dates

• Morning Edition, December 1, 2006