An interesting related concept is Mogees [0] that converts any surface to a musical instrument using a contact microphone. The initial underlying theory is described in the thesis of Bruno Zamberlin [1], where he describes in chapter 4 a work with Carmine Emanuele Cella where a piezo sensor is used to convert the vibrations on any physical object into musical sound.
There’s an iOS app called Impaktor that gives similar results with the phone’s mic instead of a contact mic. So not as nuanced, but great for $5. (You will need headphones.)
[0]: https://youtu.be/xdo8N30qb2A
[1]: http://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/12312/