extreme

Music is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful artistic mediums humankind has. It can move us in ways that are hard to understand or even describe, eliciting everything from tears to vicious mosh pits. Of course, one of its most renowned powers is helping people concentrate.

Take, for example, classical music, which seems to help students focus while cramming for finals or aid tired workers in getting through a long day. So, to promote their new drink Shuchu Regain (集中リゲイン), Suntory has released a series of YouTube videos demonstrating the power of concentration. Today, we’ll be looking at “the world’s fastest orchestra,” The Extreme Minuet, played by having 43 men toss coins into beakers from several feet away.

Shuchu, which mean “concentration,” is not only the name of Suntory’s new energy drink but also the thrust of their marketing campaign. For example, in July they released this video testing viewers’ concentration by asking them to count the number of people wearing white lab coats and then bombarding them with a dazzling display of people in action.

▼ How many did you count?!

https://youtu.be/6PaLGh2TOmk

But this new video takes things in a completely different direction, by having 43 men toss coins several feet into a row of 44 beakers. The pieces of scientific equipment are filled with liquid such that each one will produce a specific tone when a coin lands in it, basically turning them into instruments. At normal speed, it’s difficult to make out any real “music” from the coins landing one-by-one in rapid succession, but maybe if you’re concentrating really hard and you have extensive knowledge of Mozart, you might be able to figure out the melody. If not, just wait, and the video will be played back in super slow motion!

▼ Did you recognize the tune?

https://youtu.be/Fn9pvYGQAzs

It’s probably obvious from the title, even if you’re not familiar with the original piece, that this was taken from Mozart’s “Minuet.” According to the video description, this song has been shown by Kyoto University researchers to improve concentration, though we’re not sure if you need to play it on normal instruments to get the full effect or not…

Of course, what the video doesn’t show is how many takes it took to capture this. We can imagine, based on the participants’ reaction, that this was the last in a very, very long day of tossing coins. Hopefully there were no repetitive stress injuries, because we don’t think any amount of energy drink can fix that!

Shuchu Regain is available in stores across Japan now. Forty-three guys tossing coins sold separately.

Source, featured GIF, insert image: YouTube (Suntory)