Meet the Bizarre Top Ten Finalists in the 2024 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition

In early March on the campus of Georgia Tech 10 finalists will meet for a face-to-face competition to take home a $10,000 prize and bragging rights in the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition. The contest is attracts innovators who are inventing the "world's next generation of musical instruments."

This year's finalists come from five countries and include The Babel Table (multiple arrangements of latex membranes and compressed air to produce a variety of "voices" from deep percussive effects to electronic-like chirping), the Bone Conductive Instrument (an instrument that "vibrates the individual resonant frequencies of the body"), the Circle guitar (an electric guitar concept that "uses a rotating wheel that strikes the strings"), and the X.E.K.I. (short for eXpressive Electronic Keyboard Instrument).

Aside from being a fascinating competition in its own right, the effort is also particularly brilliant marketing for the Center for Music Technology at the Georgia Tech School of Music which sponsors the whole initiative. I imagine this works very well. What aspiring musical technologist wouldn't put the school at the top of their list after seeing some of these innovations?