Couldn't the Orchestra Have Rented a Howitzer?

Talk about having a blast--Joshua Nemith writes about how in a Memorial Day Concert he played the cannon part of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture...on a DX7 synthesizer. I can just imagine the jokes from the brass section:

• "Do you play Pachelbel's Canon?"
• "Could you aim that thing at the conductor?"

Auxiliary percussion is often one of the duties of orchestral keyboardists. I recall playing the piano part of Christopher Rouse's Surma Ritornelli, which was also doubled with a cymbal and drum part...