sympathetic percussion

This will probably invite a fair share of shenannigans from all the perveyors of percussion persecution but here goes.

If a percussion instrument from a different culture is introduced to the ITM style and played sympathetically to the music, does it eventually have a chance of being accepted as a fringe instrument?

Most will probably never make it into the inner sanctum of traditionally accepted traditional instruments. However, I’ve had a lot of success in using drums of African origin in setting tone and pace with several marches. They aren’t suited to all tunes but can be used for some. I still prefer to play the Bodhran for the most part and can play it along to the same marches but these other drums lend a certain depth and underpinning tone that I’ve never heard from the bodrhan. Either from myself or from some more accomplished players.

I’ll run out of range and put on some protective gear now.


BTW, Hottfiddler, Great session!!!

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=oxymoron&x=0&y=0

I take my nostril trimmer to sessions. It is of the Wahl variety (a German firm whose name means choice in their own languague), and has a quiet, plaintive whirr like the drones of the onion pipes. The pitch can be varied by adjusting the blade end, like the mouth of a whistle. I am campaigning for the nostril trimmer to be accepted as a fringe instrument.

cutting edge

I’m all for motorised appliances in sessions (I recommend an electric toothbrush for playing the bodhran), but how do you trim a nostril? My nostrils have stayed the same size for the last 18 years or so and I don’t expect them to grow much over the next 16 or more.

I’m goint to assume (hopefully correctly) that the nostril trimmer and toothbrush are sarcastic, but there are certain types of percussive instruments that sound good with ITM other than the bodhran. The tubulum (long, black drainage pipe with a membrane on one end and played with a normal drum stick) can actually sound amazing when played correctly.

I don’t the the bodhran was originally Irish, was it? African drums would certainly add another dimension to the music. I’m going to also go out on a limb here and say that 32 gallon trashcans might also be a nice session instrument (assuming there is nothing fragile on the walls, because those things are LOUD). Just a simple trashcan, when played with the right mallot, can sound just as good as an expensive bass drum.

PS: I saw a guy play the guitar with an electric weedeater…

“I don’t the the bodhran” = “I don’t think the bodhran”

I’m glad I live a long way from Newfoundland!

One chap plays a tall, vertical bongo in sessions here, as well as other things. He’s good at it. He’d better be, he’s the only chap there who’s actually come from Ireland!
I once went to a concert of Indian music featuring a tabla-player. I forget if a tabla is a single drum or a set, but this chap was WAY better on it than any of the bodhran players I’ve heard, even really good ones.
Difficult to imagine playing dustbins without a whole steel band, knocking out reels etc. outdoors on a public holiday - surely the St. Patrick’s Day industry has included this. But impracticable in a stuffy little session, I feel..!
If Highland Pipes come into your sessions, there’s always the snare drum…

Hey, I like the idea of the electric toothbrush. Wonder if I could use it to do sustained bass notes on the harp? Seriously!! I’ll have a go and report back. What an amazing forum this is!!

Mark

…and I like the idea of the drainpipe instrument. Sort of like the panpipes only bigger, and with a membrane at one end…so not at all like the panpipes really, except possibly not as damned annoying!!

Ben314: “I don’t think the bodhran was originally Irish, was it?”

Frame drums exist all over the world, and there is no particular reason to suppose that they weren’t ‘invented’ independently by indigenous peoples of various places. However, migration of peoples undoubtedly plays a major part in the distribution of musical instruments and other artefacts, and there is a strong chance that the frame drum (bodhran) was brought to Ireland by migrant peoples from N. Africa or Continental Europe. I don’t know the specific archeological findings, but I would hazard a guess that the bodhran (or similar) was around on the Island we call Ireland long before the word ‘Irish’ was invented.

“I’m goint to assume (hopefully correctly) that the nostril trimmer and toothbrush are sarcastic”

I can’t speak for either the nostril trimmer or toothbrush. *I* wasn’t being sarcastic, just ironic.

I’m going to boldly assume that the ‘nostril trimmer’ was meant to be a nostril *hair* trimmer.

I take a tarbuka to sessions, people love to play it, its not overwhelming and its easily tonal.

I’m hoping to introduce the spoon into Irish music. The player waves it back and forth in front of his/her eyes, once per bar, in time to the music, until he/she goes into a hypnotic trance. The melody players then are free to make the usual behind-the-back suggestions with the possibility that the hypnotized player will comply. If this doesn’t work, at least it’s silent.

There was a chap at our session a few weeks ago playing ‘air’ bodhran. I’m really hoping this takes off here. It sounded great. A bit like the sound of one hand clapping.

Well, I tried the toothbrush on the harp. I had an idea that it would be great for a bass drone note, say underneath “she moves thro’ the fair”. Unfortunately it doesn’t work! Shame! I could see a rash of toothbrushes breaking out at sessions otherwise.

Did once come across some sort of electronic deely that you put near the strings of a bass guitar, which operated like a pickup in reverse, in that the electromagnet inside it got the string vibrating. Never saw one in real life but could have been an interesting idea.

I saw a few days ago one guy playing a slow air on the bodhran solo.

Shakey eggs played on the first beat of every bar all night long . . .

A friend and I were once performing ITM in a uni multi-cultural concert. We were practicing in our dressing cubicle beforehand when we were joined through the partition by an Aboriginal dance/percussion group in the next cubicle. They had some kind of whirring boomerang thingies that they held in their hands and rubbed together. It sounded awesome and we were really chuffed. That’s my idea of sympathetic percussion. Highly possible - no oxymoron about it.

Smooth river rocks are naturally tuned to specific notes and quite resonant. Clacking them together can add a lot to certain tunes in a session. I prefer a light, bouncing strike that gives a slight multiple “chatter”, almost like a Tommy Peoples triplet.

“I’m hoping to introduce the spoon into Irish music.”

Gary - I was introduced into Irish music over a decade ago.

“at least it’s silent.”

Everyone like a bit of silence in a session, so song as it doesn’t drown out the music. This is why I am so readily accepted in sessions.

Spoon - I love that comment about silence. Do you mind if I quote that in my work with organisations?

hmm. ya throw out a perfectly good windup and not so much as a nibble. sigh.

that’s cos you were just skimming the surface

I thought people were ignoring fidkid because they don’t like rock music.