This video is for those of us who can’t get enough of using tools (agreed, double reeds?). Forget building a birdhouse on a boring afternoon, make a kalimba!
I’m not saying that the maker of this video is 100% refutable or authentic in his creation of a kalimba (I’m pretty sure most people of African cultures don’t have access to Craftsman power tools for their instrument-making), but I find it most interesting that someone has actually taken the time to make an extensive video about an instrument that is certainly uncommon in the United States.
This is just some random video I came across that shows the use of a thumb piano (though the player is not exactly following the rules!) and what sounds like broken English lyrics and a guitar. I thought the combination was amusing in a sense, because it seemed like an “East Meets West” approach to music. It seems to me that the thumb piano is particularly large, which may account for his lack of thumb-usage.
A very pretty balaphon for which you would pay money.
A modern Rosewood marimba, for which you would pay more money.
A Guatemalan marimba orchestra.
My own curiosity led me to think about the marimba, its origin, and its place in Latin American music. I found out that the marimba is the supposed national instrument of Guatemala, Mexico, and Costa Rica. (Incidentally, the panpipes we discussed in class today, known as rondador, are the proclaimed national instruments of Ecuador). The chromatic marimba as we know it today developed mostly in southern Mexico and northern Guatemala. The marimba is, of course, a grandchild of the balaphon we have seen in African music. This next video shows a Guatemalan instrumental ensemble featuring multiple marimbas with many performers on each.
I think it’s both interesting and confusing how we have taken an instrument that has no real original ties to our culture and given it the purpose of standing outside on football fields. …
….and how we as a culture like to play Ben Folds tunes on them in the summer months.
I really want to make a thumb piano now! It's so cool how simple it (seems) to make one. I have to try and make one though.
ReplyDeleteThe marimba video was amazing too. It's really cool how each country has a national instrument. Why don't we have one? haha Anyway I really enjoyed your blog!
I agree with Mari! I think that trying to make a thumb piano sounds like fun. I really liked the tour of the percussion room that you gave to Mari and me last night, it was very interesting and i learned a lot, and now through your blog I've learned more. My favorite video was the Ben Folds one, I think that a bunch of us should get together and have a jam session!
ReplyDeleteSo I know that I already commented on your blog, but I saw that you commented on Maggie's blog and said something about the steel drums, so I thought you should see this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IAteD9IiLs
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!
So you & I need to get together & make kalimbas... All day... but ours is going to resonate more. =]
ReplyDelete& while I enjoyed all you shared, I have to express my love for the Crown & even more so for their respect of Ben Folds. :DD
-Maggie.
Great stuff, Abigail. A word: don't get too hung up on the "proper" way to play a thumb piano. We've only touched on it a very small bit in class, and it's entirely possible that there are regional variations in the way that it's played. Yes, it's a big one, but I've seem bigger. That's one of the wonderful thing about African percussion--rather than being concerned with standardization, the emphasis seems to be on individualistic variety.
ReplyDelete