PERCUSSION TOWER EXPERIMENT

After setting up my Triangle Tree featured in a previous post, I decided to play around with some of my other percussion oddities and build a Percussion Tower.  This I do just for fun to see how I can arrange an assortment of instruments and sound effects in a compact and creative way as if I were actually going to add them to a drumset and play them.

Here I have a variety of items mounted on a plethora of clamps and brackets, all extending from a single cymbal stand.  Item "A" is a set of five wood blocks.  These look like the old wood blocks (or "Temple Blocks") once sold by Ludwig, but this is just a generic set.  I'm not sure what brand name they are, but they project well and sound adequate so they will do.  I also got them for a good price on Ebay which was much cheaper than the Ludwigs, which cost around $500.00 most anywhere you look.

Item "B" is a Treeworks Finger Cymbal Tree, a neat little stack of tiny cymbals that sound like a mini belltree when swiped with a metal triangle beater (also available from Treeworks).

With "C" and "D" we get into some unique metal percussion offerings from Gon Bops.  These are made by Pete Englehart who, according to their website, is "highly regarded as one of the most innovative percussion makers in the world."  So....yeah....that's who he is and....I'll just take their word for it.  Anyway, here I have what he calls his "Three Bell Triangle," which is three cowbell-like instruments mounted together, and the "Satellite Bell," which is two drum-shaped thingies connected with a spring.  These instruments are hand-welded out of raw steel, and yield a variety of metallic-sounding noises depending on where you strike them, whether it be on the surface of the "drum," the thin bar that runs across the diameter of it, or the spring along the top.  Basically you can just whack away and see what weird noises you can come up with, and integrate them into a percussive pattern.

Item "E" is a Latin Percussion "Icebell," which is simply a thick cymbal that produces a ringing bell sound.  "F" is a stack of two Zildjian crotales, which are "tuned cymbals" that make an orchestra bell sound.  The top crotale is a High "C" and the bottom is a Low "F."

Hanging in the background is Item "G," a Treeworks "Spring Tree" that emits a low, reverberating metallic sound that one would associate with a large metal coil of wire....because that's basically what it is.  It's a really cool sound effect to play around with and reminds me of the spooky, clanky noises used in horror movie scores when the tension is building and people say things like, "What was that?!".

At the top of the tower is "H," a typical China-type cymbal (wait....that's not racist, is it?) that just seems to go along with all of these other noise-makers.  This one happens to be a 16" Zildjian China Boy High, which produces a loud, lightning-strike crash when struck on the flange.  Other weird sounds can be made by tapping lightly with drumsticks or using mallets to create a tremendous swell of emotion-evoking crescendo.  Or whatever.

Okay....well....this post was swell....and on that note I will bring this to a close......