by Kevin on August 31, 2010
If you are planning to learn how to play the drums, you will need to choose your very first drum kit. This can be a very daunting prospect as you may be imagining having a fully featured kit with different kinds of drums and cymbals just like a professional drummer would have. You need to remember that your first drum kit shouldn’t be like this.
For beginners, your drum kit should be a lot more modest. So, what are the basic kits that you need to have?
Usually, the basic drum kit will consist of a standard 4 piece set up. This kit will have a large 22 inch bass drum, a 14 inch snare drum, 2 tom-toms, a crash cymbal, and a hi-hat. These are the pieces that you need in order for you to start playing drums. With these kits, you will be able to start learning how to play the drums.
Although most bands today will have a more elaborate setup for their drum kit compared to the basic setup, you will find that you really won’t need such an elaborate and expensive drum setup when you are learning how to play the drums. As you start improving your drumming skills, this is the time where you will start buying more drum kit pieces.
Your best option when choosing your first drum kit is to keep it simple. You have to keep in mind that even if you purchase the most expensive and the most elaborate drum kit, you can’t expect to play the drums right away like how the professionals do. It takes years of experience and many professional drummers learned how to play the drums the hard way and most of them also started out learning how to play the drums using the basic drum kit.
You will also ask about the brand of the drumming equipment you should purchase. You may be thinking about Pearl, Ludwig, Pacific, or Mapex to name a few. However, as a beginner drummer, you should keep it cheap and simple. It is highly recommended that you purchase a kit where each of the drum kit components is made by the same manufacturer.
You may encounter incompatibility problems when you have a drum kit where each piece is made by a different manufacturer or company. If you can, you should buy a cheap and simple set that is made by an unknown manufacturer. This is a great drum kit for you to practice on.
Once you improve your skills and you think that you are really ready, you can just upgrade to a better drum setup and purchase additional components in your drum kit.
These are the things that you need to remember when you are choosing your first drum kit. Always remember to keep it as simple as possible. Never purchase an elaborate setup as your first drum kit. Go for the standard setup and you will be able to start practicing and improving your drumming skills. Later on, you can upgrade to a better drum setup and you can also add more components in your kit.
by Kevin on August 28, 2010
The didgeridoo is a wind instrument coming from the Arnhem Land in Northern Australia. Naturally, it is created from tree trunks and limbs hollowed by termites. It produces a resonant low sound with complicated rhythmic pattern. This makes it suitable for chant and song accompaniment. It is also said that it is the sound of Australia, the voice of the earth, and probably the world’s most ancient musical instrument.
The term didgeridoo is thought to be a word formed from Western invention. It is also considered to be from the Irish dúdaire or dúidire which means trumpeter, long-necked person, or constant smoker and from dubh or duth meaning black or native respectively.
Generally, people believe that its origins are in the Kimbereleys’ North East and the Northern Territory’s Northern areas. In these areas, two types of eucalyptus trees are dominant which are the woollybutt and the stringybark. Traditionally, Aborigines would exchange their personal boomerangs for didgeridoos made of bamboo and wood.
Aboriginal purpose
By tradition, Aborigines go deep into natural areas and wildlife habitats. They deeply listen to animal sounds such as twittering, flapping of wings, growling, or feet thumping. They will also observe for sounds of trees, water, thunder, and wind. The didgeridoo is meant to encompass and play with the essences of all these natural sounds with much precision as could be. Observing nature needs empathy which is the source of derivative expression according to the Aborigine.
The making of didgeridoos
Once the area confirmed to be abundant of certain eucalyptus trees, the Aborigine would tap the tree trunks or limbs to determine if hollow. Back then, special axes made of stone were used but in modern times people use chainsaws. The next step is to clean out the termite residual. This can be done by soaking the cut wood with water for a number of days and scraping it out using coals or a stick.
The bark will then be stripped off by machetes or other devices. Then the length of timber will be checked or tested for any cracks or holes. Both ends of the wooden tube will be covered by hands and kept under water for a few minutes. If bubbles appear, it means that there are holes and these should be sealed with beeswax.
For the didgeridoo to have the correct pitch, the stick will be shortened to approximately 1 to 3 meters. To have a smoother edge, the mouthpiece could also be lined with beeswax.
Shapes of didgeridoos
Didgeridoos do not have a standard or uniform size or shape. The tube’s length and its almost conical shape affect the acoustic performance of every individual instrument.
The didgeridoos that are in demand are those measuring from 1 meter to 1.6 meters. The lowest tones that could be heard from these are in the range of 70 to 100 Hertz.
Ceremonial presentations
One of the most popular rituals in Arnhem Land is the Narra ritual. Its songs are commonly accompanied by large paired sticks that are slowly beaten. Due to the towering ceremonial status of the Narra rituals, some may believe that songs accompanied by the didgeridoo are younger that Narra songs. Despite that, didgeridoo has functioned as a musical adhesive which preserves the remnants of song techniques from centuries back. This proves that the didgeridoo songs are as old as or even older than the songs used in Narra rituals.
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