In an episode of the television show Myth Busters, Jaime Vendera became the first documented person to shatter a wine glass with the power of his vocal chords alone. As you can see from the video below, he went on to practically perfect the art.
Based on what we’ve already covered in previous posts, it makes perfect sense that this is possible. The wine glass essentially acts in the same manner that the sympathetic strings of a sitar do. The glass has a natural resonant frequency, and when the same pitch is project into it, it reacts by ringing in sympathy. If the volume is loud enough, the glass may vibrate with such strength that it shatters. The Myth Busters episode is fun and I suggest you track it down somehow if you’re interested.
I’ve heard the story of an eminent Hindustani musician who performed the same feat by accident with a glass wall in a museum where he was performing. If the conditions were just right, hypothetically, it is possible! So how about bringing rain by playing the right melody? I’d like to see the Myth Busters episode on that…