Materials in percussion instruments

Garry Kvistad

Citation: Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 12, 035004 (2011); doi: 10.1121/1.4865241

View online: https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4865241
View Table of Contents: https://asa.scitation.org/toc/pma/12/1
Published by the Acoustical Society of America

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G. Kvistad

Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics

Volume 12, 2011 http://acousticalsociety.org/

161st Meeting
Acoustical Society of America
Seattle, Washington
23 - 27 May 2011
Session 3aMU: Musical Acoustics

3aMU3. Materials in percussion instruments

Garry Kvistad*​

​ *Corresponding author's address: Woodstock Percussion, Inc., S hokan, New York 12481, garry@chimes.com
Most musical instruments are made of just a few main components. Due to their diversity and uniqueness, percussion instruments are made of many
different materials and often quite exotic ones. Most people think of drums and xylophones when they think of percussion but the breath of offerings in this
family of instruments is extremely extensive. In the mid 1970s, this author extracted the aluminum tubes from a pile of discarded lawn chairs in an Illinois
landfill. He used these tubes to create musical instruments. The discussion will include other percussion instruments made of materials as varied as nails,
bottle caps, salad bowls, oil cans, drawers, cactus and animal skin/bones. Like Kvistad's early experiments, instrument builders throughout the world often
reuse materials such as animal parts left over from the food industry to make drums and shakers of all sizes, discarded oil cans to make steel drums rich in
harmonics and hollow cactus and bamboo to make exotic rainsticks and rattles.

Published by the Acoustical Society of America through the American Institute of Physics

© 2014 Acoustical Society of America [DOI: 10.1121/1.4865241]

Received 23 Dec 2013; published 29 Jan 2014
Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Vol. 12, 035004 (2014) Page 1
G. Kvistad

As ideophones, the sound of percussion instruments are dependent on the

huge variety of materials from which they are made. The physical properties
are as important as the methods of processing the materials. The choice of
mallets used to activate the instrument is as important as the instrument itself
and mallets are made of many varieties of materials as well. My presentation
will be from a performer's point of view. After over 50 years of playing
percussion, I am still in love with the sight and sounds of the instruments. I
am presenting this paper not as a scientist but as a musician and instrument
builder. This is another way of asking your forgiveness in advance if the
terms I use are lost in translation from time to time. My degrees are in music
but, as a former student of Dr. Thomas Rossing, I give much credit to him for
his fortitude to engage musicians to think about how sound is produced. His
teaching has profoundly affected my approach to playing and to my abilities
as an instrument maker.

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I will start with a look at some of the materials used in traditional Western
percussion instruments found in the orchestra.

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What might an instrument be when parts of a calf are combined with cooper
bowls?

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Timpani are made of copper bowls and membranes. Percussionists often prefer
animal skin but choose synthetics for drum heads due to many reasons including
practical considerations such as durability. The Remo company is the largest
manufacturer of synthetic membranes for all types of drums and is given credit as the
first to develop many patented products which helped create new styles of rock and
roll as well as marching band music and instruments. More recently Remo has
developed excellent heads made of thicker synthetic materials for use on ethnic hand
drums such as congas. We are listening to the NEXUS recording of “March for
Kettledrums” by Jacques Philidor written in 1685.

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Many instruments begin life as molten metals and transformed with Blood, Sweat & Tears.

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The Avedis Zildjian Company is recognized as the oldest family-owned business in

America, celebrating its 388th anniversary this year. Avedis Zildjian I, an Armenian
alchemist from Constantinople, started his cymbal making company in 1623. As the
story goes, he was attempting to create gold by combining base metals, but
discovered an alloy of copper, tin, and traces of silver with unique sound qualities. To
many percussionists, this discovery was more valuable than gold. The business
manufactures in Norwell, MA and is still run by the Zildjian family. Personal tastes
dictate what type of cymbal a percussionist would choose. The materials used as
well as the manufacturing techniques determine the sound. The making of most
cymbals involve hand hammering which help to create the beautiful spectrum of
overtones giving each instrument its unique voice. We are listening to the NEXUS
recording of “Cymbal” by member Bob Becker.

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Some of the best Tam-Tams in the world are made in the remote village of Wuhan,
China. The 80/20 rule applies to the mix of metals in bronze Gongs: 80% Copper/20%
tin seasoned with a little iron or lead. The process begins by softening a slab of metal
in the blast furnace, then hammering to flatten and tune. Next it is trimmed on a
lathe and fine tuned by more hammering.

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Now for a trip around the world of percussion.

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What can be made from spider’s cocoons, wood and gourds?

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The balafon is a xylophone played most notably by the Manding people of West Africa but is
known under many different names throughout the region. The wood used is often referred
to as simply balafon wood or béné wood which is cut into keys and dried slowly over a low
flame. Tuned Helmholtz style gourd resonators hang below each bar. The resonators have
small holes over which a membrane is placed, traditionally made of spider's-egg sac filaments
(cigarette paper is often used today). This produces the characteristic nasal-buzz timbre of
the instrument. The balafon is played with gum-rubber-wound mallets.

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Modern Marimbas are descendents of African xylophones. Mexican style marimbas employ
mirliton type buzzing resonators much like their African ancestors. For visual considerations,
resonators form an arched shape from the lowest ones to the highest ones even though they
are stopped at the appropriate lengths internally to amplify the bars. We are listening to a
live performance of “Triplets” by George Hamilton Green played by NEXUS and Liam Teague.

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What’s so musical about a donkey? It plays in the key of Don (get it? The Don Key).

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The quijada is a rhythm instrument found in Peru and Mexico which functions like a
rattling tuning fork. When the “fork” is struck, the loosely held teeth rattle. For the
vegan percussionist, the LP Percussion Company offers a modern version made of a
wooden box inside of which loose metal pins vibrate against the box when the ball on
the other end is tapped.

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What can possibly be made from the skeleton of an ox?

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Bones are used throughout the world as a material for many instruments. Ivory
keys on a piano were originally made of bones before plastics were commonplace.
The predecessor of the castanet, the most basic use for bone is a dried pair held in
one hand and clicked together.

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What instrument is made solely of these drums?

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The Pan, as it is called in the country of its origin, Trinidad and Tobago, has only been
around for the last 70 years or so. Made mostly of 55 gallon oil drums, tuners have
masterfully refined this instrument through empirical methods to create the modern
instrument rich in harmonic overtones. It is as difficult to play as it is to build. The
secret of the success of any given Pan is in the tempering process and the ability of
the builder to accurately tune the harmonics. We are listening to the NIU Steel Band
playing “Chant” by Liam Teague, soloist.

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What can be made of nails, caps and calabash?

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The mbira, or thumb piano, is the primary traditional instrument of the Shona people
of Zimbabwe, Africa. It is often made by flattening nails to form the 22 to 28 metal
keys mounted on a hardwood soundboard. To amplify the sound, it is placed inside a
large gourd resonator. As with many instruments from Africa, a buzzing sound is
added to give character. In the case of the mbira, bottle caps are typically attached to
the soundboard which rattle from the vibrations of the keys. Like the tines of a
European music box, the keys are plucked to create the sound, in this case mostly
with the thumbs. We are listening to NEXUS performing a group composed piece
called “Tongues” which was inspired by the traditions of the Zimbabwe mbira.

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Oranges and spokes?

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I brought this tiny instrument to demonstrate.

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The five elements according to the Buddhists.

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Frank Giorgini is pictured here with his line of udu drums. The udu is of Nigerian
origin. In the Igbo language, udu means vessel and is traditional played by the
women who used the vessel for carrying water. Many techniques are used to play the
udu, but the most unique is a slap stroke over the holes which produces a sound
similar to a stone dropped in water. Frank learned the traditional Nigerian method of
constructing an udu drum in 1974. Without the use of a wheel, the vessel is hand
formed from a lump of clay into a finished functioning musical instrument. Using a
special clay mix he developed, Frank calculated a firing temperature low enough to
yield a hauntingly hollow earthy sound without the brittle tinny sound of high fire.
Frank claims to be the only one who has formulated a clay body for specific acoustic
properties. We are listening to Brian Melick on udu.

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What is made from Cactus and stones other than Margaritas on the rocks?

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Originated in Chile, the rainstick is used in rituals to help bring about rain storms.
Many different types of rainsticks exist, one of which uses the parts of a cactus
branch. The needles are plucked out, turned around and hammered back into the
same holes from which they came. The hollow shafts are filled with stones or seeds
and the ends closed. As the stones tumble through the cactus needles, a water like
sound is heard. A metal version with ball bearings inside is the second sound clip
which has a much harsher and louder sound. It can be played as a shaker as well.

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A brazed salad?

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The Waterphone was invented and patented by artist Richard Waters. It is comprised
of two aluminum bowls, welding rods and water and played with violin bows or
mallets. The motion of the water inside the bowls creates an effect of echo and
pitch bending. It is frequently heard on film soundtracks of horror movies or those
with underwater scenes. Richard has been making this instrument for over 20 years
and has mastered the construction techniques making his the best available. If the
bowls are too thin, the sound is distorted.

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Really big water bottles.

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Maverick Composer Harry Partch built huge glass bells from 12-gallon Pyrex carboys which
he then called Cloud Chamber Bowls. They were repurposed from the radiation laboratory at
UC Berkeley where they were used to study the paths of sub-atomic particles. Partch
painstakingly cut them in half, suspended both halves, tuned them and hoped the player
used restraint when performing. We are listening to a duet for Cloud Chamber Bowls and
Kithara from “And On the Seventh Day, Petals Fell in Petaluma” by Harry Partch.

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Let’s take a musical ride.

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The 42nd Street Ballroom sound sculpture is installed at the Port Authority Bus Station
in NYC. It is the creation of artist George Rhoads and was built in 1983. It consists of
a track of wire rails on which cue balls travel, striking percussion elements along the
way. An elevator brings the ball back to the start when it finishes its journey to the
bottom.

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Lots of materials for a simple instrument that’s a challenge to play.

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The Cristal Baschet was created in 1952 by the French instrument makers and artists
Bernard and Francois Baschet. The Baschet brothers and their group made several
appearances on the Ed Sullivan show in the 1960s mostly playing classical music on
their beautiful sound sculptures. The sound of the Cristal instrument is similar to
sounds produced by a synthesizer but is totally acoustic. By rubbing the acrylic rods
with moistened hands, the action sets off the vibration of threaded rods on which
heavy blocks of metal are attached. The exact placement of the blocks determines
the pitch. The acoustic amplification comes from the cones (usually made of plastic)
which act like speaker cones from old phonographs. We are listening to Michel
Deneuve playing a 54 note chromatic Cristal.

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I started building instruments in college and studied instrument building and

acoustics at Northern Illinois University in the 1970s.

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I tried suspending a lawn chair from a tree with string but a little more was needed to
make it sound good.

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My first experiments with metallophones were made with the aluminum tubes I cut from
discarded lawn chairs I found in a land fill (known then as junk yards). I wanted to hear the
scales used by ancient musicians which had frequencies unavailable on equal tempered
instruments. The instrument in the middle is what I call my “Adapted Lawn Chair” and was
the first instrument I built from the repurposed material. {play the chimes} My company,
Woodstock Percussion, Inc. has made millions of windchimes since I started making
Woodstock Chimes in 1979. We use a high quality 6063 extruded aluminum tubing.
Magnesium and Silicon are added as alloys to help strengthen the tubing and to give it a
shinny luster when anodized. Unless the tubing is perfectly round, there are two main pitches
possible from each single tube due to its slightly oval shape. We tune each tube to a specific
frequency and then drill the suspension holes at the nodal point 90 degrees from that striking
point. This allows the clapper to always strike the portion of the tube tuned to the correct
frequency. The top, clapper and windcatcher are usually made of wood and the variety of
wood used plays a key part in the durability and the sound of the chime. We mainly use North
American Ash which has an open grain, allowing good oil penetration for weather protection.
The ash clapper is placed near the anti node of all the tubes and is of a density which produces
a rich, mellow sound when it strikes a tube. The size and weight of the windcatcher is crucial
for a windchime – too heavy or too small will cause the chime to not perform well.

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I have built a number of instruments made solely of wood (and a little glue).

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Here are two types of wooden instruments I made with very different sounds and
applications. The 9 instruments on the left are what I call Resonator Drums made
from Baltic Birch boxes with solid Red Birch tops. The cavity was carefully tuned to
resonate the frequency of the vibrating tongue on the top. We are listening to my
resonator drums cadenza in the concerto written by Japanese composer Toru
Takemitsu for NEXUS. The woodblock on the right is made of Padauk and Oak woods
and glued together rather than routed out in the traditional manner from a single
piece of wood. The result is a very pointed/sharp sound.

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Arguably the oldest musical instrument, the human body is capable of many sounds
beginning with the clapping of hands. As a percussionist with Steve Reich and Musicians for
the past 31 years, I have performed his “Clapping Music” for 2 hand clappers many times.
The creation of Steve’s Clapping Music was inspired by watching Flamenco dancers while on
tour in Europe and dreaming of a piece that wouldn’t require the schlepping of heavy
percussion instruments. We are watching David Holt musically abuse himself.

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The subject of mallets and beaters could be the basis of another lecture but it should
be noted that mallets are as important as the instrument itself. Most percussionists
own more mallets than instruments. Different materials used in mallet construction
along with sizes and weights contribute to the timbre of the instrument. Of course
playing techniques also allow the performer to obtain many different sounds from
one instrument. Furthermore, the choice of instruments with natural materials will
have a sound different from those with synthetic materials. In my opinion, all sounds
are musical when used in a musical context. Here begins the discussion as to “what is
music?” and we are out of time, fortunately.

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