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Welcome to my blog


After years of urging from my brother (also my first drum teacher), I have decided to start the blog experience. As the title and sub-title suggest I will be posting thoughts about my teaching, coaching, performing and percussion repair/construction. But just be aware that I reserve the right to include archaeology, bicycling, fly fishing and anything else that my mind wonders upon.
My intent is not to cause controversy but rather to share these thoughts with whomever is interested. I don't sell anything and I ask that you do the same if you use any of my ideas, just reference this blog if you pass them along.

* This is not a DIY blog. Many of my posts will discuss what I have made and the materials that I used but not how.  I learned woodworking from my father using hand and power tools. As a bicycle mechanic for 22 years, I learned to use metal working tools including cutting torches. If you have no experience in using these tools you should find a skilled teacher. Therefore I am not liable for any of your actions.

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La Caverna del oro

 One of our first backpacking trips in Colorado was in the Sangre de Christo Mountains. One mountain in particular drew our attention. Marble Mountain was the location of a famous story of a Spanish cave of gold. There are many places on the web that tell this story better than I could, suffice it to say that we wanted to locate it and see the iconic 'Maltese Cross' located at it's entrance.  In 1974 after I got out of the Army we invited some friends to join us on this trip. We parked our car at the trailhead in the Wet Mountain Valley and backpacked up Marble Mountain to 12,000 feet. In one of the culverts we found the entrance to the cave. Maltese Cross at the Caverna del oro It turned out to be a real thing. The large red cross was still visible after 400 yrs. According to legend the Spanish put it there in the 1600's. I did have the courage to crawl into it but only a few feet. After about 10 feet there is a vertical shaft that drops about 750 feet!  The Cross is v...
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The Amadinda

  The Amadinda is an African xylophone originally made from slabs of wood or even large sticks, with or without gourds for resonators. There was no reason for this project other than to see if I could make a simple mallet instrument. The box was made from plywood (which also acted as the resonators) and the bars were made from maple.  Since this was to be a true xylophone, the bars were all of equal width. Tuning was done by cutting the bars to different lengths and removing material from the bottom. Using a router I created a sort of 'stepped pyramid' instead of the traditional arc cut found on marimba or xylophone bars.  Cutting the underside is not only for tuning but it focuses the pitch and creates the characteristic overtones of the instrument. Since I wanted to play this with other 'Western' instruments, I chose to use a pentatonic scale of 2 2/5 octaves (C#,D#,F#,G#,A#,C#,D#,F#,G#,A#,C#,D#). Two people sit on either side of the instrument and strike the ends of ...
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Camino del Diablo: The graves

This is not meant to be morbid but rather a reminder of the extremes of danger for those who traveled this desert trail.  What I saw were the historic graves, nothing from the pre-Spanish era. The Sonoran Desert has been inhabited for over 10,000 years and archaeologists have limited knowledge of the first people. What little is known consists of trails, trail shrines, petroglyphs/pictographs, mano and metate sites, sleeping circles and geoglyphs (the Blythe geoglyphs being some of the most famous). Some of these markers were names of people who may have died on their desert crossing or maybe just the fact that they were here. There is little information even for the historic markers. They are marked with rock piles in the form of a cross. Many were just rocks piled over the grave. One documented grave is that of Dave O'Neill, a prospector whose body was found along the trail in 1915.  The irony of the circumstances of his death is that his body was found face down in a puddle...
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