A Percussionist's Notebook

The Zenith Sun  A common characteristic in Mesoamerica is the observance of the sun's zenith passage. This happens when the sun passes directly overhead at noon. It appears twice a year around late April and mid-August. Many ancient sites from Mexico east to the Yucatan seem to have systems built into their architecture to show this phenomenon. In the Mayan city of Kabah there is a cylindrical stone marker placed vertically in a plaza that seems to act as a gnomon that will produce a shadow every day except during the time of the sun's zenith position when the shadow disappears. In Monte Alban, Oaxaca and Xochicalco, Mexico the devices are more sophisticated. These have Zenith tubes in buildings that direct the rays of the sun down their passages to produce a circle of light onto the floor of a darkened chamber.  Looking up through the zenith tube Sun light on the floor of Xochicalco zenith tube. The Mixtec A-O glyph The Mixtec A-O glyph was their symbol for 'year'. The...

 I received my 1st Covid vaccine shot yesterday. At 8 AM I got a call that there were available shots up the pass and I needed to get there by 1 PM. That was exciting except that I had to deal with the temperature first. It was -12°  and the pipes in the downstairs bathroom had frozen. It took an hour for the space heaters to do their job for the water could flow again. As soon as that was fixed I jumped in the car (which wasn't happy about turning over the engine) and waited for it to warm up before starting out. After driving about 2 miles I turned on the fan to warm up the interior of the car. NO FAN. I had to finish the 20 mile trip to the clinic with no heat in the car.  I walked into the clinic shaking from the cold and after 10 minutes I was out again and ready to drive home. The temperature was now 23°.  Now the fan worked and I went home and slept for the majority of the day. 

 This project was for medical purposes. Somewhere I read an article that stated "Sleep Apnea can be relieved through the use of  'circular breathing' ". Since I was diagnosed with sleep apnea years ago I thought it would be interesting to explore this in a musical way. Wind players and especially Trumpet players have used circular breathing for years ( think 'Flight of the Bumblebee'). My percussion background has provided me with a limited concept of breathing during performance, (although an awareness of breathing and therefore phrasing has always been important) let alone circular breathing. I asked some wind player friends for help and purchased a book on circular breathing and started to practice.  I also knew that playing the Didgeridoo required this technique so I decided to make my own. YOUTUBE to the rescue! (is there nothing that can be found on Youtube?) Again I used PVC pipe. This time I used 1 1/2" tube diameter and 4 1/2' long with the ...

 In the early 90's I was approached by the Pikes Peak Community College to teach a class on World Music. I adapted some of the projects from my middle school curriculum and added a few more. The most successful project was 'stamping tubes'. Otherwise none as 'tamping' or 'pounding' tubes, these were long pieces of wood that were used to pulverize grain such as millet for meal preparation. This implement  used in many cultures around the world usually by women in small groups. Songs or chanting accompanied the pounding. This not only relieved the boredom of the work but also allowed it to be done in a more efficient way. More importantly, it provided another way of bonding in the community. Sometimes bamboo stalks were used, and being hollow they would produce a more resonant sound and by using different diameters and or lengths they would produce specific pitches. For my stamping tubes I used 2" diameter PVC pipe in lengths from 10" to 3'. I ch...

 All parts of Bandelier are beautiful. Some are rather dangerous. The FS built a wooden ladder so you can visit 'Ceremonial Cave'. It's all in the camera angle. I was only 4 feet off the ground (I hate heights). This area was highly populated at one time. Every small rise on the mesas had a small house block of 1 or 2 rooms. Others were massive areas.    One canyon bottom has a stream that flowed year round which is a rarity in this country. Over the years we have been able to share this place with a number of friends.