According to Rob, this piece is a "standard percussion ensemble piece." Thomas is playing tom toms.
This song was a crowd pleaser. This part is an extended introduction before the main song, which is the Ghanaian piece they performed in the lobby of The Whiting a few weeks ago. (Simon said the African xylophones were Nigerian but Thomas, rather peevishly, pointed out that they are from Ghana. Come ON--everyone should know that!) After their procession onto the stage and a short solo piece by each, the boys (Rob referred to them as "young men" but I think that is wishful thinking) went and sat at either the xylophones or giant bongos. Rob explained that the buzzing noise produced by traditional African drums is caused by the gourds underneath the "keys" having small holes drilled in them, and then being covered up with paper (or something--I didn't quite catch that part of the explanation). "Western" xylophones and marimbas have metal tubes under the keys which amplify the sound as well as giving it a clear ringing noise.
2 comments:
The last one certainly looks most fun. To think it all started with some drums in your house years ago.
xM
The first drum set cost $5 and we got it from a garage sale. Those lasted about 6 months or so before they were beaten to death. The next set came from Walmart and cost about $250. Thomas still has that set and there isn't a day that goes by that we don't hear about the inadequacy of that kid size set. Unfortunately "real" drum sets cost about $200-300 per item and he would need the bass drum and the two toms at a minimum--AND he is always asking for timpani, which cost (used) about $1500 per kettle drum.
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