Sure, there are tons of videos out there of people playing or teaching musical instruments. But InstrumenTube cuts right to the chase: the video is the instrument. Play piano, electric guitar, upright bass and more, from YouTube itself. The folks behind this novel idea -- Guy Dayan (concept, creative), Adam Ben Ezra (music, concept), and Daniel Barak (creative, "bad lighting") -- explain its genesis and execution.



What gave you the idea to make this video?
Well, the one thing that shaped the idea was a craving to interact with YouTube's viewers and help them make music on the website. So after an overall examination of YouTube's features, we found it -- the timeline [a.k.a. red player bar] and the annotations -- which helped us implement the project.

How does it work?
InstrumenTube is basically a series of simple videos of a single instrument played in a specific way, matching up with a chart on the bottom, which perfectly aligns with the YouTube timeline – or by using deep-linking annotations. Once you let the full videos load, you can start clicking on the appropriate place on the video or timeline to get the note you want.

Tell us a cool fact about this video that no one would know by looking at it.
The production budget was so low that even when we bought a projector to light the room for shooting it didn't work 'cause it was so cheap. This ended in a piece of cardboard wrapped with aluminum foil being held for hours and hoping the sun wouldn't go down too fast.

Have people sent you creations they've made with it? Which are your favorite?
New "InstrumenTubes" started to pop up on YouTube a short time after we launched our project. They're not only video responses, but they seem to be a new YouTube genre, and we're very proud of it. For example:






Dayan is also the force behind the YouTube climate thermometer video, which won the YouTube/ Cannes Young Lions contest, and TubePetition, an interactive PSA allowing people to use collaborative annotations to make a stand for the environment. Finally, his guyguy82 channel has possibly one of the coolest designs we've ever seen – definitely take a look!