Junk turns into music: an artist makes machines out of trash

It sounds raucous from a former vacant lot in downtown Würzburg: the pop-up shop of the Mozart Festival on Plattnerstrasse, near Kiliansdom, is being played by a very special artist this week. Tobias Shermer, actually a jazz drummer, makes percussion instruments from objects that have been thrown away.

Pot lids, brake discs and saw blade

There is nothing in its original function: he takes a hammer from the bell and the aluminum sheet becomes a viola string. “I myself call it vocal art, but also music,” Shermer says of his art. “Now I’m a musician and I can’t expect everyone to see it the same way.” Pot covers, brake discs, and saw blade: they look different depending on which hammer the players are hammering with. Metal on metal is very screeching – a hair on the stone is pleasantly dull.

Recycle with music

This could be called recycling in music. The sustainable principle of recycling waste products is becoming more and more popular: old bicycle tires are turned into waterproof backpacks, and surfboards are turned into earrings and necklaces. “For me, sustainable thinking and acting has always been an area of ​​my own life. Now I’m gradually realizing that this is so important to me that I want to do more with it,” Shermer says. “Maybe that shows a fun way to deal with what’s already there – without wasting resources.” He says plastic is a “dumb material compared to metal and wood – also from a technical point of view”.

The sounds are being generated live at the moment

Shermer has been accepting scrap donations at the pop-up store since Monday. At a concert Thursday evening, the sound artist showed that recyclers also work with musical instruments. But are there degrees to his way of composing music? “I allow myself to be guided by the excitement and the moment. Look: Where can I go, what can I develop? It all happens live.”

We are so excited for the party goers

Experimental and spontaneous: the audience loves the concert of a different kind. “I am amazed at how diverse sounds can be obtained from materials. We used to make machines with children from waste, cardboard boxes, cans, etc.,” says Marcus Eid, for example. Charlotte Sanger is excited to finally hear live music again. “It was so exciting to let myself get carried away by the noise, and be surprised where the sounds came from.”

Mozart’s room

For the first time there is a kind of pop-up shop as part of the Mozart Festival: through the “M Pop-up – Room for Mozart” a temporary room for Mozart was created in an inner-city shop, where artists could be used for experimentation, open rehearsals, concerts and discussion tours creating a venue To meet, discover and exchange. The chamber was opened on Mozart’s Day at the end of May.