WEIRD PERCUSSION's topics - tribe.net

HMMM seems like tribe may have stabilized..........anyone hear anything?

looppool — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:06:34 GMT

I was just sure it was going to tank a couple of weeks ago.

It's still really takes an irritatingly long time to load pages but
I'm glad it's still up.

Yahoogroups just doesn't do it form me like this place.
Anyonen else agree?

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 1 reply

OTHER WEIRD BEATER IDEAS

looppool — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 12:13:25 GMT

go to K-mart

buy the cheapest fiberglass fishing rod on sale
(don't pay more than $10 or $12.........if they are more expensive, wait for a sale)

Strip the rod of everything. Frequently, you may need an Exact knife to
carefully cut the thick plastic tape that is used to hold on the eyelets used for the fly fishing
line.

In lengths of typical drumsticks (16" or 17"), cut three or four lengths out of the rod.

These things make INCREDIBLE Davul beats.

The thinnest ones sound amazing when held against the heads of darbukkas, djembes or large frame drums
producing a distorted buzz sound that can vary widely depending on where on the head they are held.

Whisp the drums for an ersatz hi hat sound.
hold it against the drum for a snare sound
hit heavy rimshots cracking timbale-esque sounds.

Have fun. I love these beaters.................enough so that I just designed a beater with a thin
nylon tip on one side for a custom Bodhran beater.

I'll be showing this at this year's PASIC.

What other creative mallets can be made that are unusual?

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 12 replies

Can you help me to insure that this tribe will survive if TRIBE.NET fails (which is looking imminent)?

looppool — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:52:17 GMT

Can you help me to insure that this tribe will survive if TRIBE.NET fails (which is looking imminent)?

I was thinking of migrating the WEIRD KALIMBAS, WEIRD GUITARS, WEIRD ZITHERS, WEIRD PERCUSSION, WEIRD MUSIC BOXES
and WEIRD DRUM MACHINE tribes over to a large umbrella group called

weird_instruments@yahoogroups.com

I don't have enough time to migrate the discussions in this tribe over there because I'm trying to do that , personally,
with the enormous Audio Plugin Junkies Tribe,

but would someone be into volunteering to go through this tribe and copy any of the important discussions
(especially around techniques for construction, ideas for creativity, etc.)

Tribe may survive but I'm feeling like it probably won't. It makes me infinitely sad because I love the community paradigm of this
place. Darren, the only empolyee, quit yesterday after receiving an abusive email from the 'hands off' owner, Mark Pincus
so things don't look good.

If it does go down that way, head over to

weird_instruments@yahoogroups.com

I'll see you all there.

yours, Rick Walker

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 1 reply

Mobile Percussion exhibits and programs that are a must to check out

drumfest — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:54:41 GMT

Working for a Children's Museum has it definite perks when it comes to being introduced to some absolutely amazing things before the rest of the planet gets clued in. Here is one such incredible artist, percussionist and out-of-the-box museum exhibit designer. Check this out...

Michael Bradke and his The Mobile Music Museum

http://www.bradke.de/musikaktion_engl/index.html

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

Help with playing a chimta with a bow?

snokite — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:26:16 GMT

Hi.

Some years ago I saw a video on the net in which a guy was playing a chimta ( http://tinyurl.com/62k7vz ) with a violin bow, or some such thing.

Now that I finally have a bow and a chimta, I can't figure out how to make it work, and I can't seem to find that (or any) video showing the technique.

Does anyone have a lead on a video, or have some pointers on how to make this thing sing?

Many thanks.

tara

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 1 reply

SLAPSTICK: a cool new stick invention

looppool — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:01:09 GMT

I just got my new SLAPSTICK in the mail and it's really a very hip new invention.

It's a drum stick that has a plastic tip that is attached to a short flexible plastic rod at the end of the drumstick.

This allows you to play the edge of a hi hat or drum and get 16th notes for every 8th note you play.
I'm liking mine so much that I'm going to order a second one. They are about $20 including tax and
shipping and they shipped it really quickly.

Here's a basic overview:

www.youtube.com/watch

Here's 7 time Grammy Award Winner, Paul Wertico demonstrating it:

www.youtube.com/watch

And here's the winner of a recent SLAPSTICK contest with his take on the instrument

www.youtube.com/watch

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

Tongue Drum

LightLizard — Thu, 31 May 2007 22:42:30 GMT

Anybody play one of these? I've had mine for about 20 years and still enjoy it's african-style sound very much!
I use rubber mallets (timpani)and have found that if you slightly dampen the mallet head, with a breath, you can drag the mallet across one of the tongues and get a whale-type of sound.
EErie! And good for driving wive's crazier...

heehee

love

~LL~

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 21 replies

WEIRD PERCUSSION group formed at Yahoo just so we can upload audio and video files from Discussions from this tribe

looppool — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:44:31 GMT

I just started this group at yahoogroups.com

groups.yahoo.com/group/WeirdPercussion

Group email: WeirdPercussion@yahoogroups.com

I did this so that people from this TRIBE can upload audio or video files if they want to share instruments or techniques that they have
learned or invented (since Tribe.net, lamentably, doesn't have this capability)

THIS WILL NOT BE A DISCUSSION FORUM and I created a dummy emal address so that I won't respond to anything
posted there.

If you post something for us to listen to, please include the URL and SEND IT TO THIS TRIBE.

Cool, let's share!

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 1 reply

Percussion Table

cpr — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:27:07 GMT

This stuff looks pretty darn cool..

http://www.musicalfurnishings.com/

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 3 replies

schlagwerk

Mon, 05 May 2008 17:17:23 GMT

My tax return this year got me a schlagwerk cajon.. I love this thing. They also have many other great instruments.. Check out the booster set!
http://www.schlagwerk.com/english/cajinto_yambu/cajinito_yambu.php

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 1 reply

percussion fusion: tabla meets taiko

dununba — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:00:37 GMT

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pNtpqj7ij0g

this is pretty cool. the start is a bit slow. either sit through it or fast forward a bit

enjoy

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

Hang drum clone made from a propane tank on eBay

dununba — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:19:33 GMT

Howdy,

This thing looks too cool
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=180183857476&Category=47088&_trksid=p3907.m29

I am not selling it...just thought you'd all be interested

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 4 replies

Looking for an experienced Foley artist

drumfest — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:05:31 GMT

Hi..
I work for a children's museum in Baltimore, Port Discovery. One of my latest projects is centered around teaching children about sound effects, using only those items that they would normally find around their own home or classroom. What I am looking for is to locate an experienced Foley artist who can advise me on the gear that they would use and techniques that would be appropriate for young children, ages 6 to 12.

I can be reached at dkorup@portdiscovery.org.

Thanks...Daveed Korup

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

Rockin' Washing Machine

looppool — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 07:36:16 GMT

I was playing Mandolin tonight through a bunch of weird digital effects and
I heard this great rhythm coming from the washing machine.

I grabbed my digital camera which allows for fairly low tech audio and visual movies
and grabbed a few minutes of my washing machine jamming out in 6/8

It's a 100 mg. download so make sure you have a fast DSL or broadband connection,
but it's pretty danged cool.

I'll leave it up for about a week and then take it down to conserve bandwidth at my site.

www.looppool.info/washing_machine_six_eight

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 1 reply

amazing video of ASALATO

looppool — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:07:30 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12eycU21RkE

More background:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosika

This guy is really great..............get past the horn part in the first 30 seconds.

Bernhard Wagner of Switzerland turned me onto this video.

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 6 replies

copyrights, intellectual property rights

David — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 02:36:20 GMT

Rick's posting of his washing machine got my head buzzing with several possibilities, so I asked him off-list if I could have info in case I ever used it in anything. My muse sometimes works very slowly so it wouldn't have been any time soon. Apparently Rick does have definite plans for this audio/video, and he told me so. No problems I said, good luck on your project, let us know how it turns out.

This exchange got me thinking about what kind of control we may or may not have over something that we post for the whole internet to see and/or hear. Even with a disclaimer of copyright on a site I'm sure there are some folks who would have no problems with downloading Rick's footage and making something of it. I have mp3's of my music on my website, free to share. I can prove copyrights for those. How do you copyright a washing machine video or it's sounds?

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 4 replies

Chimes

angus — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:32:26 GMT

I have a gig in early February that seems to be calling out for lots of wind chimes. I have been gathering all my own and my friends wind chimes and have been having fun choosing several of them to use in the ritual. Also I'm having fun designing an apparatus to hold them all. My question to you, percussive weirdos, is what shall I strike them with?
Some have internal clappers, some designed to be pirely wind driven, but I want something more precise that still sounds organic and cool.
Ideas?

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 7 replies

delicious...

RadicalBunnny — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:18:15 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpfYt7vRHuY

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 2 replies

A hip and unusual drumset idea from Mari Boine's drummer in Norway

looppool — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:20:58 GMT

Has anyone seen the wonderful drummer with Mari Boine's Band (she's the Norwegian Sami multi-kulti singer)

He uses a huge 26" marching drum that he leans in his lap with a brush in his left hand and a felt bass drum beater
(with the typical skinny metal shaft) in his right hand.

He plays a hybrid style of percussion using the brush to make snare drum sounds; whisping sounds like hi hats
using his arm on the drum to mute and unmute the huge bass drum to create ersatz tom tom sounds.

Adtionally, he has one of the hippest actual bass drums (played by foot) I've ever seen and I immediately ripped off his idea
and made one after I saw him play (thanks!!!)
It is a 14" roto tom with so much black gaffing tape on both sides of the drum that it is completely muted.........then it is
tuned down as low as it will go. It sounds like paper from a foot away but if you put your ear right up to it, it sounds like
and immense TR 808 analogue rap subsonic drum.............an amazing sound.........just a quiet one.

He told me that he has his sound engineer put a special parametric equalier on the drum and he emphasizess not only the fundamental
frequencie of the drum but also the frequencies two octaves below it and CRANKS THEM UP in the mix.

What is so cool is it sounds like godzilla stepped onto the earth and yet it has a relatively short envelope.
The trouble with a lot of subsonic bass drum sounds is that their envelopes are so long that they mask all the other bass frequencies
in a song..................this precludes being able to do much intricate kick drum work as well.

With this thing it's a shorter envelope but an incredibly deep sound.

It reminds me that back in the 70's and early 80's I used to use a Synare drum synth that I added on to my kick drum.
I set it for the lowest note possible and then made the envelope impossibly short.
It just really added cajones to the kick sound when I wanted a huge kick sound and I just turned it off when
I wanted a normal kick sound. The funny thing is that audiences never even got that I was augmenting the kick with an electronic
synthesizer signal............................tres cool.

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 4 replies

alright , if this isn't weird percussion, I don't know what the hell is

looppool — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:50:12 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PtbgUIaD6E

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 3 replies

Chocalho

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:09:04 GMT

I made a chocalho and posted instructions: http://www.instructables.com/id/Wooden-Chocalho/

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

WEIRD INSTRUMENTS group created to share SOUND FILES for this tribe

looppool — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 11:07:58 GMT

I just created a yahoo group called Weird_Instruments
for anyone in the Weird Percussion, Weird Kalimba, Weird Zithers or Weird Drum Machines tribes to
upload sonic files to so that we can hear them.

Weird_Instruments@yahoogroups.com

You have to have a yahoo ID to join but it is free and they don't spam your email out.

PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS GROUP TO DISCUSS ANYTHING!

Let's keep our discussions on tribe.net and just use this merely because
they support the uploading of sonic files (which Tribe is either too poor or
to out of it to provide themselves).

Yours, Rick Walker
moderator of Weird Percussion, Weird Kalimba, Weird Drum Machines and Weird Zithers tribes

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

Make your own tamborim beater

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 23:12:52 GMT

I made an istructable on how to make your own tamborim beater. Check it out:

http://www.instructables.com/id/EV63OG7F6B7PYFB/

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 3 replies

not weird, just damned cool

Jumanah — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:32:55 GMT

www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3kcD5KWT_Q&mode=related&search=

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 3 replies

WEIRD ZITHERS tribe formed Come Join Us

looppool — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:05:41 GMT

http://tribes.tribe.net/weirdzithers

I have been playing with a lot of zither experiments that are out of the norm lately.
I had a custom MAXAPHONE and a custom BOWED PSALTERY made for me
and I've been doing experiments with really cheap childrens' toy zithers: preparing
them, processing them, putting them into weird found tunings and different ethnic tunings:
using contact microphones on them and processing them and looping them in weird ways.

Today, in the Weird Kalimba tribe one the artists who is most inspiring to me, Robert Collier
posted pictures of a kalimba/zither that he invented and built and it suddenly occured to me that
there are at least two of us out in the world who find experiments with these simplest of string
instruments fascinating.

So I started googling 'Weird Zithers' 'Strange Zithers' 'Unusual Zithers'
'Experimental Zither's' and discovered there
is an amazing world of people who step out of the box in their music and their inventions.

And I started the WEIRD ZITHERS tribe.

I doubt there will be a lot of members or even a ton of traffic, but it would be cool to turn each other
onto cool things that are out in the world that we have never heard of.

Come join us.

yours, Rick Walker

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

The Sacredness of Drumming and Rythm

LightLizard — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 19:35:42 GMT

I love this...

http://www.rhythmweb.com/khan.htm

love

~LL~

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 18 replies

Looking for gourds to make African water drums

Kris — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 07:00:10 GMT

Hi,

I want to make some African water drums -- I wanted to see if any of you know where I can get gourds already dried and ready to go...I can paint them and then play them.

I've thought about buying some fresh and trying to prepare them and dry them myself...

Any advice out there?

Axe,

Kris

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 5 replies

Article on cocoon rattles

travism — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:30:42 GMT

http://www.insects.org/ced4/peigler.html

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

Industrial Percussion

LightLizard — Sun, 27 May 2007 19:45:46 GMT

I was in a downtown park, waiting to meet my wife one afternoon. Nearby, a construction site, where a large condo/office building was being erected, there was quite a bit of the usual activity generating the typical sounds of heavy machinery. A pile-driver was doing it's thing and dominating the whole of the area with it's hammering, which echoed off of the surrounding buildings like the walls of a canyon and sent the sound bouncing freely, everywhere.
I had my doumbek with me, co-incidentally, ;) and decided to use the pile-driver as a foundation for a bit of jamming. It's hard to beat!

heehee

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 9 replies

'I've got me.....under my skin.....'

LightLizard — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 20:10:51 GMT

Back in the late 70's, I was playing with a Canadian Blues Band in Vancouver, Canada, on a 'double-bill' with another act. Canadian Troubadors 'Mclean and Mclean.' They were a gutsy, wild pair of brothers who burned up the scene for awhile by parodying many current hits and adding their own, sometimes obscene lyrics. One of the brothers played conga, the other guitar.

One night, after a particularly riotous evening, Blair Mclain (the conga player) and I got together onstage, just before we were about to leave for the hotel. We started jamming a bit, and then, he took a pair of my sticks, and I took a pair, and we proceeded to wander all around the nightclub, drumming on any and every surface that didn't hit back.

We played the bar, (literally) the stools, (the bar stools, that is) the beer cooler, the cash register, the walls, floor and even the door, on the way out to our cab. Then, we proceeded to play everything else on our way. The cab, the seats in the cab, our fellow passengers, (the least resonant of all) and then the hotel, glass doors, the elevator doors, the walls to their suite, and everything else we could hit in their suite.
Blair and I went out onto the balcony, on the 23rd floor, for our finale. We played the railing of the balcony, which gave a pleasant and high-pitched tone, due to the hollow metal tubing.

As we stood there playing, for some reason, the sliding glass door of the suite came off of it's runners and crashed into our backs. We casually turned around and picked it up to put it back on the runners, and then simply returned to our concert.

One of my sticks cracked, so I used the butt end for awhile, and then, in a dramatic and final cresendo, I sent the sticks sailing into the void, to fall 23 stories to the parking lot below.
Blair followed my cue, and our magical journey into drumming the world and everything in it, came to an end.

We went inside and finished off all the whisky and beer we could find. I fell asleep on the couch as he and his brother went into the bedroom to their respective beds.
In the morning, they threw me out -bodily- when I woke up singing...
'I got me.....under my skin....I got me....near to the heart of me....'

A few years later I went to a nightclub where they were playing. I hadn't seen them since our drumming night, two years previous. As I walked in, they opened their set with a familiar song...
'I got me....under my skin....'

Those crazy bastards!

I love them.

Drum ON!

love

~LL~

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 16 replies

Pulse - the movie is now on DVD

dununba — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 17:58:19 GMT

The IMAX movie Pulse is now on DVD.

Pulse is a world percussion tour done by Stomp.

Its short and sweet at about 38 minutes.

The DVD contains many extras.

Netflix has it, definitely worth a rent.

I bought it!

The beat goes on............

Mark

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

DIY Drum Trigger How to.

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 21:32:30 GMT

I made myself some triggers last night. I documented & made a basic (how to) along the way. This might be helpful to someone here.

http://www.rhythminmind.net/trigger/trigger.html

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

RevereWare Faux Analogue Electronic drum sounds

looppool — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:11:57 GMT

My wife just came home and discovered that if you hit your finger nail solidly
on the wooden handle of RevereWare steel pot lids that you can get an amazing
array of sounds that sound amazingly like TR 808 drum machine sounds.

The smallest one has virutally no metal resonance so it sounds like a clave or woodblock sound
the next size up can be made to be a dead ringer for the TR 808 cowbell sound (that you've heard in
a million hip hop songs)
the next size up sounds remarkably like one of those resonant click track sounds
and the the larger size just sound like deeper pitched versions of the above.

Add a really deep pitched thumb struck Frisbee as your TR 808 drum sound
(or to really get that 'authentic' vibe, acoustically, take a 14" Remo rototom
and glue heavy naughahyde to BOTH sides of the drum.................then tune it as low as you can
until the drum becomes slack and toneless.
Put your ear right next to it when strike with a mallet or a rapidly struck thumb and it's a dead ringer
for that very specific pitched TR 808 sound or even something that is more subsonic.

Mari Boine's drummer hipped me to that by the way...............he discovered it and I following
Picasso's advice, stole the idea and ran with it. (he actually used gaphing tape, I discovered naughahyde
after watching the modern Brazilian surdo players use it to get rid of everything but the fundamental pitch of their drums.

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

Can you cut it?

LightLizard — Sat, 26 May 2007 18:03:32 GMT

Some time ago I was cutting some sheet metal with a pair of shears and noticed a rather interesting effect with the shears. As I was contemplating my next cut, I clacked the shears together and realised that it had potential as a percussion instrument. I picked up a second pair of shears with my other hand and before you knew it, I was rockin'!
It works with scissors, too, of course. you can get a nice ''ssssshhck!'' sound as part of the beat, too.
Might make a cool sound for a hairstylist's commercial, or somethin.'

Gotta beat it...

luv

LL

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 6 replies

WEIRD AMBIANCE

looppool — Mon, 28 May 2007 02:53:47 GMT

LightLizard was just mentioning cool Industrial percussion that he jammed to
as they built a large building.

I'm really into very cool and unusual places to play weird percussion so that the
natural reverb there adds to the effect.

Today I played a little invention of mine at the Fanime Convention in San Jose (a really creative Anime convention):

I took a large turkish metal dumbec with a tambourine mounted inside and I played it with my right hand (normal technique)
and my left hand holding the top 18" of a dayglo lime green fiberglass fly fishing rod....................using the rod to either
whisp the sound or playing rimshots or, even better, placing it on the head crosswise and letting it buzz loudly to
create an ersatz distortion sound.

I practised all the way through the enormous concrete garage underneath the SJ Convention center and the
long reverb in their created by the square walls and cielings really gave it an awesome sound.

Also, up at the performing arts theater at UCSC (which is a round building surrounded by a round walk) the
overhang of the roof which is over the round walk way is about 15' high and
provides a very rapid but very audible and discernable multiple delay everytime one places a midrangey transient sound.

It's a peculiar reverb/natural multiple delay sound but sounds fantastic.

What other cool ambient places have you all discovered to play unusual music underneath?

What other places have you found that have unusual ambiances?

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 7 replies

drumcircle discussion

william — Mon, 28 May 2007 04:31:39 GMT

look here:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/nj_pa_drumcircles/

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 1 reply

not quite percussion....but........

dununba — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 19:21:26 GMT

Immense coils of hot, electrified gas in the Sun's atmosphere behave like a musical instrument, scientists say.

read more and listen here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6574059.stm

very cool even though the clip is short

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 2 replies

DOORSTOP-A-PHONE

looppool — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 06:14:07 GMT

One day at my father's house in San Jose, I discovered that the doorstop in his bathroom was
a particularly old and very musical sounding one.

It was attached to a hollow door so it really resonated quite a bit.
I spent several minutes in the bathroom listening to it and when I emerged
my dad asked, "what the hell were you doing in there for all that time".

And I said, "Well, Dad, you have a particularly musical doorstop."

He was intrigued by that notion and came into the bathroom and sat down on the floor.

He pulled the doorstop lightly.......he pulled it very hard. He opened the door and listened to it resonate
and then closed the door and did the same thing. He openend the door up and then stopped it's resonance with his hands.

I just sat back amazed and so pleased that he was getting of on one of the weird things I get off on.

Anway, time passed and I was performing at the San Jose Museum of Art doing a found sound show.
At the end of my show, my father pulled up in his car. He was bummed to learn that I had already
finished the concert (he had gotten the start time wrong) and pulled out the world's first doorstop-a-phone,
that he had built for me. He put a lot of work into it and it even has a curved bottom (difficult to accomplish in
wood working). He also told me that he had gone all the way down to L.A. to find different kinds of doorstops because there
weren't all that many kinds available commercially.

Then with pride he showed me that he had dismantled his own doortop and put it dead center on the doorstop-a-phone.

I was just floored and have played it in several concerts since that time.

********
My father passed away this past January 13 after a long and wonderful life. He was 81 years old. He dropped in his tracks
and didn't feel a thing according to his doctore which is the best kind of death anyone could ask for.

I will miss his incredible joy of living. I'll miss his intellectual curiousity and encyclopedic command of many, many things. I'll
miss his sense of melancholy about life that I share as well. I'll miss his incredible sense of humor and his amazing laughter.

The last time I saw Dad, we had gone to a late movie after dinner and I was preparing to drive across the mountains; back to Santa Cruz.
He walked me out to his porch and something I said really cracked him up. He was laughing that amazingly infectious and powerful
body laughter and he said, "Drive safe tonight, Ace, I love you very much..............I'll see you next Wednesday"

I feel blessed by his presence.

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 5 replies

BIRDS Fest Community Meeting Reminder

drumfest — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 13:18:33 GMT

Daveed here!
Just a reminder that Tuesday, April 10th at 7 PM, will be a community meeting for the Baltimore International Rhythm Festival at St John's (traditional site for the festival). St John's is located at 2640 Saint Paul St, at the corner of St Paul and 27th.

I wish to encourage anyone and everyone who is involved in the rhythm world to come and join in. For a community festival to succeed it must have a community members participating. Bring a drum, an idea or just yourself, the rest will be provided.

Though the meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 PM, since a number of you might be having to drive some distance, the meeting will begin with drumming and our conversation on the festival will start around 7:30.

If you wish to be involved, but can not make the meeting, please contact me privately via email at drumfest@yahoo.com or call me at 518-435-5343.

Looking forward discovering what new rhythms we can all weave together as a community. Until then, I remain...

Respectfully yours...Daveed

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

Intro

AmberBarbara — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 19:01:24 GMT

Hi All,

I recently posted here looking for ethnic drummers (& dancers) & Daveed asked me to introduce myself.

Short version :)

Currently live in Texas, originally from the west coast
Am a costumer, started with historical costumes, SCA & passion for Hungarian Ethnic dress
Long time girlfriend to Therion (of Therionarms.com the historical arms dealer)
Part of Confed Household but due to $$$ have not been to Gulf War or Pennsic in a few years
I especially miss Pennsic

Of course I am a long time belly dancer & fire dancer

Regards,

AmberBarbara

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 1 reply

Call to Austin Texas Hand Drummers for 1st Thursday show

AmberBarbara — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 22:29:54 GMT

Hi All,

WyldeFyre Productions puts on a live show every 1st Thursday at Amy's Ice Cream on Far South Congress. The next show is April 5, 2007. The event opens at 6 with fire spinning classes, then belly dancing performances, then we have fire dancing performances & then we have open performance with live drumming & dancing (all types). We need live drummers (all style welcome - middle eastern is great for the belly dancers, african for the fire dancers, etc) & dancers (belly dancers, fire dancers or other ethnic dancers are all wanted). Please feel free to email me at AmberBarbara@hotmail.com or here in Tribe Austin/AmberBarbara for more information.

I hope the drummers can make it out with us. Live drumming makes the show for me!

Ethnic Drumming & Dancing exhibitions/performances will also be considered.

Thanks in advance,

AmberBarbara

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

Daveed's World RHYTHM Drum CIRCUS

drumfest — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:19:45 GMT

Greetings folks...
I wanted to let you know about a little project that I have happening in Baltimore. Here are some details:

Daveed's...WORLD RHYTHM DRUM CIRCUS
PORT DISCOVERY
Inner Harbor, Baltimore MD
March 10 – 17

Instillation Descriptions

• DRUM TOWERS
Two PVC towers,
With single headed drum gongs and double headed barrel drums ---
The drums are made from 50-gal plastic barrels, ABS corrugated pipe,
PVC pipe, and bicycle tires
Note: All drums will be headed with recycled, outdoor billboard vinyl

• TREES
Hub Shrub
The Elizabeth Tree of bells, cymbals and things

• GONG GARDEN
17 to 24 gongs on rackets

• METALLOSARUS
A stainless steel metallophone (xylophone)

• WATERWORKS
Water Gongs – large plastic water jugs
The Pond, with frogs, shakers, rattles, & other small hand percussion

• DRUMMER’S ROW
Drum clusters made from 50-gal plastic barrels,
ABS and PVC pipe and sand filters

• THE GALLERY
An assortment of goblet drums, barrel drums, and frame drums

• MISCELLANY
Cowbells, blocks, mounted washboards, ratchets, etc.
__________________________________________
Thought you folks would be interested...Daveed

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 3 replies

Baltimore International Rhythm Festival

drumfest — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:30:09 GMT

Looking to sponsor a "Weird Percussion" Contest during this year's Baltimore International Rhythm Festival, Sept 28 & 29 2007, at St. John's, 27th and St Paul. I'm looking for mobile (easy to disassemble and transport), interactive instruments that are designed to engage an outdoor audience in a festival setting. Not sure of the prize, yet. However, it is time to start thinking about it and though a prize has not yet been identified, it should created for the pure challenge of it, as a primary motivation. This is festival is open, free to the public. I am wanting to attract children and their families, in addition to the traditional drumming crowd.

Right now, it's just an idea and now I offer it to you as a challenge. You do not need to attend to win. It can be something that is shipped, with really sound and reasonable assemble instructions. Drawings are also really great to help with assembly.

Now that I an brainstorming...If we can get a significant array of projects a collection could be organized that could be made available to children's museums and other venues, for extended runs. Sky's the limit.

Your turn...what to you folks think about this idea?

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 1 reply

"The Cummings Report"

William — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:03:43 GMT

http://youtube.com/watch?v=R-Kjh-AigbU

14 year old Justin Cummings on electric bass (with his dad (Bill) on Zendrum & uncle (Bob) on Keys. They’re twins)

My son Justin’s only been playing the bass for 18 months, and he taught himself to play this classic Jaco Pastorious (Weather Report) track. I had to double as cameraman, so you only see me (in the way back on ZENdrum) in the first half. Hope you enjoy it, we’ll try to post some more soon.

Bill Cummings

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

WHO ARE WE?

looppool — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 02:56:55 GMT

I just saw one of my favorite musicians face in this tribe: Phyll Smith (aka Dark Muse).
She does really wonderful stuff with found sound and even unsusual brass sculptures.
She's also married to a wonderful percussionist (dark ambient artist as well), Andre Custodio.

Seeing her picture, I got to thinking: who are we in this fun and strange tribe?
What do we do? What strange percussion instruments do we play and in what kind of music?

Take a minute in the next few days and check in. I'll start with the next post.

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 7 replies

VARGAN documentary in Russian

looppool — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 13:10:14 GMT

This is a wonderful short documentary about
Jaw harps all over the world.

Someone has kindly translated the Russian narrator
into English at the video description portion of the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW99liWinNg&mode=related&search=#

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

Vladiswar Nadishana

looppool — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 12:57:53 GMT

Here's another video clip from Vladiswar Nadishana.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpTIRUdQisE&mode=related&search=

Check out his other videos (which come up on the youtube page)

This is a wonderful and amazingly talented and unusual musician.

He plays an amazing solo of mouth percussion, water bottle and one on the Russian
overtone flute called the Kalyuka (oooooh, do I want one of these beautiful instruments)

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

You Tube - Solo on teapot with water

dununba — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 21:20:06 GMT

This is classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RcslxZKdt0&mode=related&search=

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 1 reply

red bull

bhakta — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:49:06 GMT

damn, this is good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-HGLA6SvfQ

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 3 replies

Contact pickup/microphone for Udus, berimbaus, etc.

dununba — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:17:34 GMT

I'd like to hear from any of you that use contact pickups for percussive instruments.

I just got an udu and I'd like to mic it

namaste

Mark

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 2 replies

these guys are awesome

VaBooN — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 11:38:17 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldxg87pDlI8

and so are these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7k6VYGtm8g

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies

Sub-audible

angus — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:18:13 GMT

Hey Gang,
Making some music for a big Samhain (halloween) ritual later this month, and am looking for ways to create tones (waves?) so low they are sub-audible to the human ear. I want something I could record and loop, and just "Have" percolating down there for the whole rite. Any ideas?

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 8 replies

what drummings all about

Jumanah — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 03:56:31 GMT

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8769452857153111155&q=Sigur+Ros%2C+glosoli&hl=en

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 15 replies

Native American Flute tribe

dununba — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 19:35:44 GMT

there were no Native American Flute tribes, so I created one.

tribes.tribe.net/naf

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 7 replies

WATER: as a musical instrument and as a sound modifier

looppool — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 03:42:24 GMT

After la-las last post about putting water in large stainless steel mixing bowls,
I decided we should have our own thread about the use of WATER, both
as an instrument in itself and as a sound modifier.

Here's my history with water in music:

In the early 1970's I was fortunate enough to do a tradtiional Native American Peyote ceremony
where a large drop of water is put on a communal frame drum that is malleted and passed around the circle
in the sweat lodge. The idea is that every one keeps a constant rhythm going on the drum as they pass it
around with a mallet so that the rhythm never changes.................just thump, thump, thump, thump over and over
at 200 BPM. As the psychedlic in the Peyote becomes to come on in your system, the drums' pitch goes
down almost imperceptively as the single drop of water slowly seeps into the drum as it's played.

The more the psychedelic effect, the more the pitch drops. Following the dropping pitch of the drum is the purposeful meditation
(not unlike following the slightly out of tune ringing of the Tshin Tshaws in Chinese musical meditation).

My next encounter was in the mid 1980's: the first time I played
a Richard Waters' Waterphone which was, originally , just to identical stainless steel
bowls welded together with steel rebar welded together and a spout coming out
of it that ended in a restaurant metal butter cup (the kind they use when they serve
lobster). this ethereal sound was used to create much of what people assumed were the
electronic music score of the original Star Trek series in the 1960's

I became very fortunate as Richard Waters drove all the way down from far north of the Bay Area
all the way to Santa Cruz to deliver me a used instrument of his that I paid $100. Interestingly,
he wouldn't give me either an endorsement or even a discount on his new ones (as they are very
very expensive for my humble budget) and he wouldn't mail the drum to me. He travelled
several hours just to put it in my hands personally. We had an amazing two hour conversation about
music and then he turned around and drove back................it was pretty amazing!

This got me intrigued and I began experimenting with pots and pans; stainless steel mixing bowls.
I then discovered that maple syrup flowed slower than water and that glass maple syrup bottles
are incredible percussion instruments....................just go thump one if you can still find a glass one.
It always gets the attention of the large grocery store undercover detectives when you do.............lol.

After the syrup was gone I found that water was a great subsitute for the syrup though the portamento effect
(sliding pitch) is much slower with syrup. I've never tried it but I imagine really viscous oil would really
sound good in such an instrument.

Try hitting a maple bottle with a rubber mallet.................just a little harder than a super ball mallet but NOT
a hard rubber mallet. (an additional goodie is that you can use the white plastic handle of the mallet
as a kind of morphing hi hat type sound and you can hit the side of the bottle and keep the handle in place
and it will buzz.........................get it buzzing like this and then rapidly draw it back across the glass and the
pitch of the buzz will go up.

A young Japanese percussionist who had heard about my work and flew over from Japan to study with me about 10 years ago.
She saw me using plastic bottles as pitch changing percussion insturments and on the last night she presented me
with a small pint bottle of gin, filled with water.

I played that in concert for several months and then one night, I was incredibly thirsty so right in between songs, I opened the bottle
up and took a huge swig..........fully expecting it to be water...............................it wasn't it was Gin and I'm not a Gin drinker...............
I couldn't help it, I spit it out and started laughing...................so did the audience when I explained what had happened.

Then I saw Trilok Gurtu play cymbals, gongs and seed pod rattles by dipping them in a large paint bucket filled with water, making the pitch go down
radically. He had a microphone pointed right down onto the surface of the water and cranked up in volume. What an amazing sound.
I then had to try everything played in and out of water.

Next, My friend Michael Haumesser, a fantastic multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, knowing how much I love invented instruments and found sound made me an instrument that he called the "Mikeyphone". He took Twinings tea tins (you know, the square ones); opened them up
and put very amounts of water in them so they would very the pitch of the metal. The he built a square plywood frame, put large nails in it and
strung very strong and thick rubber bands across the open end of the frame and placed the Tea Tins in between the rubber bands.
The rubber bands hold them in place but when you hit the tops with your thumb, they produce a discernable pitch (that can be carefully tuned
according to how much water is in each one) but the pitch cause vibrato to happen because it warbles as it bounces without falling held between the rubber bands.

It's an awesome instrument: kind of a pyschedlic take on a log drum. At this point I started looking in earnest for the best possible kind of
cannister that would create this effect. For a while, my friends at Kinkos would provide me with metal cannisters that held Xerox cleaning fluid.
They had a screw on top that was narrow and the instrument sounded phenomenal with liquid in it. Unfortunately, water rusts these out and
they have quit selling cannisters made of metal. I finally found a very pricey Scottish Oatmeal brand that has large circular tins. I have to pay
about $7 each for a can so each note of my Bass Mikeyphone is expensive (it's a 4 note frame I built). There's a recording of that instrument
on my Translucent Dayglo Green Plastic CD for anyone curious, but I'd say, spend the money on tea tins and plywood first and build your own to hear it.

The next installment (and latest) was that I got an amazing four sided huge glass vase from Cost Plus (with rounded corners and an opening at the top that makes it a perfect ghatam). Each face of the vase has a different pitch and the glass is relatively thin and wobbly , though strong enough
to play. One day I was demonstrating it to a student (Matt Schreiber) and he said, "why don't you put water in that to change it's pitch."
I was in kind of a funky mood that day and skeptical about that idea so I replied, "No, Matt, I think the water would kill the resonance."
But he insisted that we try it out (so, grumbling inside my mind, but not outwardly as he was paying me to teach him and it was his dime, so to speak) I went in and put water into it in the bathtub (It's far to large to get water into it in the sink and played it:

It was astonishing! And much credit goed to Matt's creativity and perserverance for discovering this amazing technique.
I call the instrument the LIQUID GLASS GHATAM. I can play it like a conventional ceramic ghatam but then if I play the sides with my fingers
I have a two octave range that the water creates depending on how I angle the drum. There's a track of that on TDLGP as well.

I paid $25 for the instrument and it is quite fragile so I never tour with it, but it is literally one of the most incredible percussion instruments I own a and I have close to 1,500 percussion instruments in my collection from all over the world. I wish I had bought four of them, if only to give away as gifts to percussionists I know.

I've never seen another vase that would work exactly like this. There is something about the thinnes of the pains of the glass and the fact that they are
close to flat instead of rounded. If I see anything that might work I'll let you know. Most vases, the glass is just to thick but I thought it might be hip
to get a glass blower to custom make them. I keep meaning to go talk to the glass artists at the local Univeratity to see if they have some willing student to try out such and experiment.

For live playing I put food dye into the water as it makes it more visible to the audience how the instrument is working.

One of my proudest moments of my life was having the venerable Hamza El Din ask me to play solo for him at a large gathering of the top
Sufi leaders in Northern California. I had been asked to help them with the music for the soundtrack of the PBS documentary of the life of Mohammed. Due to some politics I never ended up working on that project but I played for about 10 minutes so, right in front of one
of my absolute musical heroes and inspirations (and the first person to ever teach me how to play a frame drum)

Okay, I have to eat somehow and I have a feeling that few have made it this far in this long and rambling post.
Cheers, stay creative.

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 5 replies

found instruments

David — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 17:54:33 GMT

I love shopping at Goodwill. I'm always playing in the metal aisle looking for things that have a nice tone. I've quite a set on a shelf at home that someday I'll make a stand for.

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 21 replies

Strange Stuff

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 05:03:25 GMT

Here are two amusing videos. The first illustrates what drummers do everyday while people across the globe are at work. The second illustrates why drummers shouldn't have engineering degrees. It's called P.E.A.R.T. (Pnuematic Electronic Actuated RoboT).

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8000409016826512649&q=Music+for+6+drummers&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5573691295673456922&q=Music+for+6+drummers&hl=en

Enjoy...

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 9 replies

Welcome to the Weird Percussion Tribe

looppool — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 02:27:26 GMT

Ever since I first started playing and heard my first flexitone...................or the first time
I ever heard someone put a gong into water to change it's pitch I have been fascinated
by the unusual, exotic, strange, weird and bizarre in the percussion world.

I've always been drawn to people who innovate in the percussion world (and the world of
art in general) and in my travels as a professional musician around the world I have
stumbled on a lot of people who both make and play unusual instruments.

Today in a hardware store, I found myself staring at a whole display full of magnets of different sizes
while waiting for some keys to be made for me. Because lately I"ve been on this kick to take normal
cymbals and gongs and extract new sounds out of them, I've been fascinated by putting chaing and
other rattles on them.

Anway, I have three sets of these super magnets that you throw in the air to make weird buzzing sounds as
they attract to each other when it occured to me that it might be really cool to put each one of these magnets
on opposite sides of a cymbal. Sure enough, you can cause some really cool faux distortion sounds out of the cymbals.

Then I tried it on a small pitched wind gong. I struck the gong and then moved the magnets and got the coolest sound to come out of it.
I just wanted to share it with someone and realized that there was no place to do so, officially, at tribe, so I decided to start another
tribe.

What turns you on? What are the coolest and most unusual instruments in your collection? What are the coolest techniques that you use
that are unconventional in playing percussion or drumset? Do you make instruments?

That's what this place is here for...............or should I say, that's what this place is HEAR for.

welcome.

Rick

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 22 replies

Cult of the Napkin Ring now accepting membership applications

Sibylla — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 14:23:20 GMT

I just found this tribe thanks to Rick!

>thanks Rick!<

I almost hate to let my secret out, however you folks seem like the right audience.

The Cult of the Napkin Ring is now accepting new members!

It all started at CostPlus World Market. A year ago, I was purusing the store as I sometimes do, checking out all the interesting sounds available. Lo and behold I found myself staring at copper napkin rings. The rings in question were wavy rings of copper tubing. I picked up a pair, held them by their nylon price tag loops, and clinked them together.

oooh.

I picked out a matched set of higher pitched rings, picked out a second set of lower pitched rings, fitted the price tag loops on my fingers (ala zills) and was enthralled.

A year later the collection is growing. So far all the ones I've loved are copper. These are loosely grouped in my 'bell' collection.

Eventually I am going to fit them with shorter loops for better control, however all the rings still have the original price tag loop installed.

Membership in the Cult of the Napkin ring starts with a simple shopping trip. I recommend Cost Plus World Market, Pier One probably has some interesting ones, and who knows what other stores will have a good selection.

I've gotten several requests from artists I admire (hey, can I have some of those?) and so far I've told them to buzz off and go buy their own napkin rings. I get emotionally attached to my bells.

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 1 reply

Hand drums on a drumset

angus — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 22:29:22 GMT

Hey gang,
Great idea for a tribe.
My deal, my problem, my vision ;-) is playing a regular traps set, with some hand drums AND some electronic pads as well. (Cuz sometimes you simply MUST have a tympani and/or a dog bark in an arrangement). But about the hand drums on a drumkit: I don't want to whack my doumbek or djembe with a stick, so I must stash my sticks somewhere fast in order to get some sounds going on the handstuff. So where do I put my sticks? I have tried tucking them under my arm, or both arms, and they slip off. I have tried stashing them on a floor tom, but they roll off, and make a noise when I put them there.
Any other ideas?

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 6 replies

i want i want.. =)

Fri, 08 Sep 2006 07:04:09 GMT

http://synesthesiacorp.com/home.html

unlike most pads it handles pressure, placement, and release.. 127 steps of midi in all areas... very cool.. pricey tho..

posted in WEIRD PERCUSSION - 0 replies