A Percussionist's Notebook

  The Amadinda is an African xylophone originally made from slabs of wood or even large sticks, with or without gourds for resonators.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

 During one Spring Break Patti and I spent a week on the Hopi mesas. We ate traditional Hopi food, visited private homes where the women displayed their pots and weaving and learned some of the traditional stories from some of the men. My favorite (and unexpected) part however, was when we stopped at a gas station below the mesa on our way home. As I was paying for our gas the man taking the payment had a recording of a recent dance ceremony that took place on top of one of the mesas. He couldn't stand still but was moving along with the rhythms of the recording. I was captivated, I started asking questions about the music and found out that he had led that particular ceremony. He spent the next 30 minutes talking about the importance of water for his people and the need to implore for spring rains for the coming crops. The important instrument for this ceremony is a wooden rasp placed on top of a gourd. Painted with a frog on one side and the symbol for rain on the other, the soun

Plug the vacuum into only one outlet per level of your house. If the cord doesn't allow the vacuum to reach all of the level then it probably doesn't need to be vacuumed. The next time you vacuum try a different outlet, but remember only one outlet per level.  If there is something on the floor that the vacuum misses, keep going over it but NEVER pick it up with your fingers. If it can't be vacuumed it probably belongs there. Everybody has a job to do. Mine is to push the vacuum. The vacuum's job is to pick things up.                                                                                                                                                     

 I recently watched a video at History Colorado that featured lithophones found in the Great Sand Dunes National Monument.  Archeologist Marilyn A. Martorano displayed a collection of these cigar shaped stones. Lithophones from Great Sand Dunes NM  For the demonstration they were suspended on top of a rope ala marimba bars and struck with hard rubber mallets. They could also be suspended vertically from a string or hand at their vibrating node (about 28% of the length) producing a ringing sound.  I have heard of 'Kiva Stones' that have been found in ancient Kivas that were presumably used for ceremonial purposes. In The Cave of The Winds here in Colorado Springs the guides tap on some of the stalactites to show visitors the sounds that some of them make. Although there doesn't seem to be any evidence that people ever used them for this purpose. On a hike near Bandelier NM I came across a large flat rock that resonated when I stepped on it. I spent an hour playing on this ro

 In my continuing quest for sound isolation I tried another variation with The Nickster. I glued leather to the inside and outside of the holder. My logic here was since the vibration is canceled when I placed my fingers on it while it's mounted on the music stand the vibration actually stops. I spent 1 day experimenting with the proper glue to adhere the leather to the aluminum and another 2 days gluing it.  EURICA! And just like the spelling above, it didn't work. After 3 days I had a Nickster clad in leather that allowed the same amount of vibration to travel through the music stand. Yes it didn't work, but on the bright side I can call it the 2021 Anniversary Edition!

 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

I wrote about rattles in an earlier post. There are many examples in museum collections of rattles made from various material, so their existence is evident. Foot Drums however, are a subject of some controversy. Some archaeologists propose that the rectangular pits in the 'great kivas' were covered with wooden platforms and the people would dance(?) on them. I used the (?) because 'dance' implies an art form or a secular celebration. I'm using it as merely the rhythmic movement of the feet. Also there are arguments that their use was for other purposes such storage bins, germinating beds for seedlings and who knows what else. A possible foot drum in Chetro Ketl    In the Bandelier NM backcountry is the 'Painted Cave', a natural amphitheater formed by volcanic tuff. This material is soft enough that one could dig into it with finger nails although the people who lived here most likely used stone tools for the task. The entire area is littered with small cave

 No sound effects collection is complete without a 'Pop Gun' sound. Most commercial pop guns are small, giving a sharp high pitched sound. But they are expensive, the professional ones are about $50 as opposed to the 'toy' pop guns that give  a 'plop' for $10. That's OK for most situations but I wanted to get a bigger sound. After all, why take a pop gun to a bazooka fight?  I built mine from left over scraps. I used a PVC pipe 1 1/8" dia. x 15" long. The inside is a 1" dowel with a small dowel inserted to limit the travel and protect the hand when playing. The top of the slider has a piece of leather forming a loose fitting seal on the inside of the PVC pipe, and a cork for the end. This gives a much bigger and lower pitched sound than one would expect for the weasel/monkey song, but less than the 1812 Overture would need. It would be nice to make one with a 4" PVC pipe but I'm afraid it might violate some nuclear treaty.