Louis Katz on thu 11 dec 97
Hello Rick;
my friend Louis Katz forwarded me your message. I think I can offer some
help re some of yr questions.
On 12/9/97 7:03 PM, -------------------- spake thusly:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
>Is there any standard proportion between the diameter at the top and the
>overall height? Should the drum neck down to a specific dimension?
>
Drums come in all shapes, sizes, and materials. If you do research,
you'll find that ceramic drums of the "dumbek" (or "doumbek"-- pronounced
"DOOM-bek") variety (dumbeks are Middle-Eastern Belly-Dance drums) are
traditionally of a top-weighted hourglass shape. That is, the "bowl" at
top is of a wider diameter than the "horn" at bottom. Not a "standard
proportion" or anything. I've found that the greater the difference
between the diameter of the bowl & horn (in the "top-weighted" direction)
the lower the drum's main pitch (the "doom"-- the sound the drums makes
when hit in the center of the head).
Be sure to round off the playing rim! Otherwise, you risk bruising your
fingers. Also helps in the head-attaching process...
>What type of clay body should be used? Would glaze have an effect on
>sound or tone? If so, should I not glaze on the inside and glaze on
>the outside only? How thick should the walls be? Do the walls need to
>be uniform in thickness?
>
Almost any kind of clay will work, as long as it can stand the tension of
the attached head, which can/should be pretty high (see attaching section
below). High-fired stonewares work great.
EVERYTHING effects the sound of a drum. The density of the clay body
(the denser, the higher the pitch of the resonating clay body, making for
a brighter overall tone), the thickness of the walls (the thicker, the
less the body itself will vibrate; also involved with wall thickness is
playability-- if the drum is too heavy to lug around, who's gonna play
it?), glaze or no glaze (inside glaze seems to let the sound "slide
through" better, which may just be a psychological perception), the
thickness & tightness of the head (thinner/tighter heads can produce
brighter tones-- "brightness" is what you're going for; clarity; dull,
thudding tones ANY drum can make; if you can produce bright, clear tones,
the player has a wider variety of sounds at her fingertips, so to speak),
etc.
>What is the best type of hide to use for the drum? I have heard that
>goat skin is preferred but I don't have a clue where to find it - any
>ideas? Is there any other material which could be used other than goat
>hide? How would the hide be attached?
>
Check out Mid-East Manufacturing in West Melbourne, FL. Website:
http://www.mid-east.com/
They sell all sorts of cool musical instruments, as well as drum heads of
goat, calf, fish & other materials. Yes, most drummakers i know use
goat. The heads come cut in circles of like 8" thru like 32" for around
$4 - $40. However (I live on the Gulf Coast), any organic head will be
suseptible to the elements (temperature, humidity, etc.). For like $30,
Mid-East will attach a Fiberskyn (nice-sounding & -feeling poly material)
to a dumbek if you can get it to them and there is enough surface area
for the skin to be glued to. Great pic on that page, too, of some cool
dumbeks.
Attaching the hide is the trickiest part. I found a really ingenious
solution in a book called "Doumbek [or "Dumbek"] Delight," by Mary
McDonald (i think). It's a clamping device (makes me wish you cd draw in
email...) made out of a couple square peices of plywood, one of which you
cut a hoop out of the center onto which you attach (staple) the soaked
hide. The other peice is the base on which you set the drum body. Drill
holes for turnbuckles in each corner of both plywood peices. Glop a
buncha Elmer's glue around the top rim of the drum, where the skin will
be attached. Then, with four turnbuckles, you clamp down the top
plywood/hide hoop to the base. Clamp it down pretty dang tight. A tight
head cuts through all sorts of other instruments for good ensemble
playing and a wider range of tones. Let it set for at least 8 hours.
Then unclamp, cut away the excess skin, and voila! Ingenious. Wish i cd
take credit for it...
>I have been unable to locate a book on the subject. If anyone out there
>has any references I would appreciate the help. Thanks!!
>
>Rick Brady
>Pleasanton, CA
>510.484.1768
>
prob noblem... let me know if this helps...
*-======================================-*
Keith Rowley
Systems Support Specialist III
Early Childhood Development Center
Texas A&M University-- Corpus Christi
email: krowley@falcon.tamucc.edu
website: http://www2.tamucc.edu/yugen/sss/
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"By the virtue of eyes are the stars themselves light."
--Alan Watts
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