Musical instruments

Harmony Gongs

I travelled to Broome with my family in 2018 and found myself with a bit of time on my hands, so I decided to expand on the experience with Jane Coker (see previous post “Gong for Jane”). I Procured some cylinders which were no longer useful for gas and set to work. Lauchie at The Broome Factory kindly made a place for me to work and I set about turning the cylinders into instruments. Putting a slight angle on the cuts gave a cleaner tone and after sand blasting and painting, they were ready for market.

Broome Courthouse Markets are a long standing tradition, with a huge array of amazing products and a large crowd of willing punters. I sold most of the instruments over two weekends and met a whole lot of travellers from all over Australia and the world.

Marching Marimba

The Invy Horn Jam need a big bass Marimba to March with! What do we do? Talk to Andy Rigby, of course. He had ironed out most of the creases, and more importantly had identified the appropriate pram for the job. A vintage Steelcraft frame is just right. We decided on a scale appropriate for horns (Bb, Eb and C being the concert pitch they most enjoy) and I put it together. It has made appearances at the Inverloch Jazz Festival Parade and the Shearwater Festival in Cowes.

Gong for Jane

Local Community Musician Jane Coker recently had to return a borrowed cylinder gong she was using in her workshops. A perfect excuse for us to have a go at making one ourselves!

Here is the cylinder as it came out of the old camping gear……

The bulk of the cutting was done using an angle grinder, with fine

tuning by hacksaw.

Having never made one before, we had to call in the experts for tuning.

Finished!

These instruments are quite simple to make and produce such a hypnotic, beautiful sound.

Thanks to Jane for the inspiration.

Marimba for Yinnar

Here is the collection of materials as they will presented to participants at the Marimba making workshop at Arc Yinnar In October.

As the workshop is held over just one weekend, I will cut the pieces to size, leaving only the interesting bits for the workshop participants i.e. tuning the keys and resonating pipes, assembling, final sand and applying finish.

The Keys are made from Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), the frame from recycled Vic Ash (Eucalyptus Regnans) floorboards and the tubes from Aluminium.

I have completed one and placed it at Arc Yinnar for folks to have a play of and a squiz at…..

If you can’t make it to Arc, here is a rough recording of the finished instrument (sound starts at 15 secs). Thanks to Jon Madin for the hot cross parts……

Marimba design process

I have been developing the instrument design for the marimba workshop at Arc Yinnar over the last month or two. I drew on my own marimba building experience and furniture design work, as well as many practical ideas from the marimba designs of Jon Madin. The solution for mounting the aluminium tubes was suggested by the supplier in Morwell, Allform Industries.

I have included some sketches showing the process of design

Mossvale Park Summer of Soul

The last few years I have run a stall at Mossvale Park for the annual music festival run by the Lyrebird Arts Council……. this year I set up a Tee Pee full of small marimbas and hang a group of tuned scrap metal from the spreading Cork Oak tree. I made hammers from sections of walnut branch, with escalator rubber pads. People would begin by looking slightly bemused, but once they began to play, delight and fascination took over.

The following recording was made on one of the wheels, striking the spokes, centre and rim.

This time I am playing a roller which in a former life was part of the conveyor belt assembly dragging brown coal out of the La Trobe valley. A section was removed from the middle to create two tones.

Now a mixed recording of the tuned pipes. Water and gas pipes resonate well, as does copper and aluminium.

As the afternoon wore on, general mayhem broke out. One kid was taking a 30 meter run up. Most of hammers were broken, one in half. The sound was outrageous. People discovered that the range of tone and effect that could be found in what appeared to be junk can be fascinating.

This final recording is some of the notes found in a curved piece of steel pipe.