An enchanting and wholesomely satisfying percussive triumvirate, with the ever-captivating and wonderful Ken rounding out the third solo performance (and never have mallets on wood been more thunderous), but all three performers were a delight (and the synth, in the intriguing mini-finale as a quartet!). Don't miss a second of it! I'd love a whole album of this stuff, with all four players!
I'll also mention that as I've discovered that the vast majority of log and slit drums, which I've started to lump together (...and to be fair, all instruments around the world, historically) are tuned to a Major or minor Pentatonic scale, or less commonly some diatonic, or even chromatic Major or minor scale (with various layouts and designs), the more I've wanted to find log or slit drums with more, and more unusual, pitch selections. But they seem pretty rare, aside from a lot of novel designs made by all sorts of hobbyist around the world, many with limited traditional/musical theory backgrounds...which is largely why their designs are the most novel and tend to be the most non-standard and creative in their tonal selection and layout than what you'll typically find, in music catalogs and mass production, and just in general. The pentatonic scale, while arguably the most versatile scale form, and one of the easiest to play harmoniously, both solo and with others, lacks a lot of the makings for certain useful, musical flavor, tension and dissonance and harmonic dimension that my ears have come to expect at least in post-modern fusion world. This little specimen, I'll wait to get it in front of me, and maybe it'll become evident, but I can't discern the tonal layout here, though it seems pretty novel, and with several more pitches than a Pentatonic(5) or diatonic(7) scale, and it's overall tonality, with it's richness and complexity, might even be hard to characterize! Ken, can you tell us the selected pitches or how you otherwise implemented whatever scale or tonal layout(s) you might have used in this instruments design? Some slit drums I've seen have triad or other complementary note clusters arranged around the surface, sometimes for each of several fundamental scale degress (typically Tonic, P4th and/or P5th, 6th and/or others), and it seems like maybe you've done something similar here but I can't really tell... I'm also curious if you set to work with the final design before you started cutting (and I'm sure you've cut a lot of these over time) or if you prefer to improvise along the way and thus end up with a more spontaneous creation.
This amazing little innovation is honestly, surprisingly, the closest thing I've found, out of probably at least 20 different log and slit drums I've been looking at, to what I've been searching for to add some melodic mallet on wood percussion to spice up the brew in a hybrid drum kit. I just bought one, and while I haven't got my hands or mallets on it yet, it clearly seems to have not only the tonal character most similar to what I've had in my mind, (I'll admit Bill Bruford's part on This Sheltering Sky has been my go to reference when in doubt) even compared to slit and log drums more than five or six times the cost!... ...It also has so much tonal richness and complexity with all the different sympathetic vibrations! It's got at least ten distinct pitches it looks/sounds like, and probably a few more than that, so many dynamic harmonics intermingling. Plus I think the metal hoop underneath, and other hardware probably, give it even more rich, colorful tone and resonance. Not to mention the head stretched across the hoop! (Which also means the whole thing can probably be tuned a good bit...) This little thing says so much and packs a ton of punch! Plus it has far and away the best footprint and 'modularity'/flexibility (and overall musical potential to size/cost/footprint ratio) of anything else I've compared it to (for my admittedly niche designs). Ken, thank you for your innovative contributions to musical percussion!
Ken, in today's day and age, I frankly thought the "Star-Spangled Cymbal" concept was going to be some American flag artwork layered over a cymbal, but I'm so glad to be proven wrong. Your musical instruments are a real treat. I'd like to know, do you still take orders for most (if not all) of the products listed & demonstrated on your website?
THanks, and yes., but if you like something notify me thru the contact page as to what you want. The word spangled means covered with spangles or other objects. It's sort of a play on words since my company is called american percussion. lol
Yes I have a special bass drum tension rod to quickly change the head tension and a butt plate that has an extra snare adjustment along with the strainer so many things can be adjusted for each performers pleasure. This drum was hot off my non assembly line so I didn't play with the adjustments that much.
Hilarious and genious at the same time - use it on a mounted tambourine and you have a thumb-roll mallet! No more pesky dry fingers sliding all over the place! You got a new subscriber!
Very cool, its one of those ideas that Im just amazed I havent seen or imagined before. It would be really cool to see it on one of those deeper field drums, I wonder if it would enhanve resonance of the tongues.
Thanks, The deeper the drum did not translate to a deeper sound necessarily because the farther the marimba got from the resonating head the shallower the marimba sound. I'm trying to get the lower sound by increasing the diameter of the shell and the bars. This is one of the first 18" ones I've made which , I have to say sounds much better in person.
very cool still, and I have to admit I was listening through my phone so I didn't really have a good reference for the resonance of this one - but regardless it would be sweet over a deep drum also
Awesome arrangement you put together. As for the drum i personally prefer the sound without the snares. I think the jangles add the right amount of sympathetic high end
Thank you. there are adjustments for everything. The dills come out, the head tension can be quickly altered with a bass drum tension rod instead of a standard tension rod and there are two adjustments for the snare as well.
@@americanpercussioninstruments this instrument has quite a lot of different ways to play it and that makes it seem like a bunch of different auxiliary percussion instruments placed together
Sounds like a wooden marimba to me... the tones are pretty much the same, just muted a bit because the wood doesn't resonate as much as metal. Sounds beautiful
@@PureChivalry Thank You. putting the marimba on top of the drum helps deepen the tone somewhat and then when a mic is hooked up to it , it will even sound better. It's just nice to have that sound easily available to a performer.
You would benefit from using springs with thinner wire and coils maybe twice the outside diameter as the one on this thing. The spring you have is coated with chrome or something. Any coating reduces the vibrations of the spring. It is a good idea to wash any springs you use in acetone to remove any grease in the springs. Grease reduces vibrations. Once you have them free of grease, you can then temper the spring steel by putting it under a broiler at highest heat for 30-40 minutes. Then, put the spring in ice water. You end up with a darker colored spring with a louder response. Be sure to dry the springs after the ice dip, otherwise you may get rust. Just put them back in the oven as it cools off. Careful with the acetone fumes, be sure to thoroughly rinse the springs before broiling them. No acetone down the sink drain. Go to McMaster-Carr online in the USA to find these specific springs at reasonable prices. These spring dimensions are what you want, Not the heavy gauge "door spring" like in your clip. "Od" means outside diameter. Extension Spring Stock, 36" Long, 0.313" Od, 0.023" Wire Diameter - SMALL $7.20 Each Part Number - 9664K48 Extension Spring Stock, 36" Long, 0.375" Od, 0.028" Wire Diameter - MEDIUM $5.91 Each Part Number - 9664K51 Extension Spring Stock, 36" Long, 0.438" Od, 0.035" Wire Diameter - LARGE $6.94 Each Part Number 9664K22 Note the Wire Diameters. Wire thinner than 0.023" or thicker than 0.035" will not be great for sustained reverb. Outside Diameters of springs are of equal concern. Smaller than 0.313 or larger than 0.5" will not yield much reverb or volume. For more information about how springs work sonically, read this: barthopkin.com/coil-springs-as-sound-sources/ We just had our first snow of the season today. All I can think of is SPRING ! Cheers !!! 😊
