[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference napalm::commusic_v1

Title:	* * Computer Music, MIDI, and Related Topics * *
Notice:	Conference has been write-locked. Use new version.
Moderator:	DYPSS1::SCHAFER

Created:	Thu Feb 20 1986
Last Modified:	Mon Aug 29 1994
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	2852
Total number of notes:	33157

2361.0. "Real Tubular bells, need mallet" by KOBAL::DICKSON () Mon Jun 04 1990 19:45

    I have these wind chimes.  They are tubular chimes (that sound not much
    at all like Yamaha's "Tubular Bells" patch) suspended on strings, and
    tuned to a Harry Partch kind of scale.
    
    Anyway, I have been trying to record these things, and striking them
    with anything hard makes an annoying click.  Using a knuckle on my
    hand works pretty well except that it hurts.  I tried my padded
    dulcimer hammers, but they aren't padded enough (just a strip of
    leather over wood) and still make a click on the recording.
    
    So I thought, hey, what I need is a felt hammer like inside a piano.
    So I went over to Daddy's at lunch to take a look at their drum sticks.
    Not that they had much to choose from.  They had a set of tympani
    mallets for $27.  Yikes.
    
    So how much should I expect to spend on one of these things, and is
    their a cheaper way than tympani mallets?
    
    Speaking of Harry Partch, there is an article about him in the latest
    Keyboard.  Doesn't give anything technical about his 43-tone/octave
    scales though.  All his records appear to be on Columbia, and are still
    listed in the big yellow book at the record store (LP only), but I
    haven't found any.  Maybe I should just set my TZ for "Just Intonation"
    and see what I get.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
2361.1	Sidebar on Partch	AQUA::ROST	I'll do anything for money	`Mon Jun 04 1990 20:31`	13
	Wow, I'm surprised those Partch LPs are still out there. I have two (were there more?) Columbias and they sound pretty futuristic today, even though some of the music dates back to the 1940s!!! One has a "bonus" LP with demonstrations of the instruments. For his musical system, see if you can find a library somewhere with Partch's book "Genesis of A Music" (published by Da Capo Press) in which he describes his intonation concepts. Good luck on the mallet.... Brian
2361.2	pick up sticks	TOOK::SUDAMA	Living is easy with eyes closed...	`Tue Jun 05 1990 09:58`	13
	There are special hammers for real chimes that are made out of some kind of animal hide rolled into a cylinder, but this sounds like over-kill for your purpose. A timpani mallet is just a ball of hard felt, usually with a wrapper of softer felt layered over it. I used to make these myself (when I played timpani). You might be able to get the right kind of felt if you went to an upholstery supply place. But that sounds like more trouble than you want to get into. I'm sure you could come up with something simple and cheaper. For example, how about using a buffing wheel, the kind you would get to stick in a hand drill? These are usually made of hard felt or cloth, and they have a spindle that you could stick into the end of a stick. Get creative. - Ram
2361.3	Some of Partch's music available on a CRI CD	BAVIKI::GOOD	Michael Good	`Tue Jun 05 1990 12:53`	8
	There's at least one CD of Partch's music available on the CRI label. I've seen it at Tower in Boston and Briggs and Briggs in Cambridge, though not consistently at either place. Perhaps Jack's Drum Shop in Boston (on Boylston St. just west of Mass. Ave., between Tower Records and Berklee) would be a source of inspiration, equipment, or both regarding the mallet problem.
2361.4	Borrow, beg, or ....	HPSCAD::RFACCENDA		`Tue Jun 05 1990 13:44`	5
	If you just need mallets for a one time sampling, why not try borrowing them. A note in the MUSIC note file might work; also I think there's a percussion notes file. Ron
2361.5	The Mother Of Invention...	WEFXEM::COTE	What if someone sees us? Awwwwkk!	`Tue Jun 05 1990 14:00`	10
	This may well be the most tasteless suggestion ever offered in COMMUSIC, but it seems like it might work. I've included a form-feed for the more sensitive members... What about a Tampax tampon pushed just slightly out of the tube? Edd
2361.6	No, I never took "Improvised Munitions 101" :-)	CTHULU::YERAZUNIS	Very funny. Yes.	`Fri Jun 08 1990 18:04`	10
	Gee, our minds must run in similar gutters: How about a toilet-paper (OK, paper-towel) roll core (the cardboard thing that's left when the paper is gone) full of sand and capped with duct/masking tape at each end... In other words, an improvised "blackjack". -Bill
2361.7	or, get "help" from a "friend" ...	MIZZOU::SHERMAN	ECADSR::SHERMAN 235-8176, 223-3326	`Fri Jun 08 1990 18:21`	4
	If you REALLY want a good sound for cheap, try banging your head or your elbow against it. Steve