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One Man Banding & other percussion!!
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The above picture features my "One Man Band" rig in 2004. It is a constantly changing setup as new ideas occur to me. Essentially, the whole thing "hangs" around a sack truck. This is weighted down by my AER Domino amp. Above that is my bodrhan, permanently affixed to the truck. The bodrhan beater is attached to an egg flip, itself mounted on the underside of a conductor stand attached to the top of the truck. The conductor stand serves to provide a playing stand for my "Q" as well as suitable holes for hanging my spoons & bones. The underside of the stand is a hanging area for cowbells, handbells, tambourine etc. The bodrhan beater is attached via pulleys to my foot. Attached to the beater is a handled shaker. When playing, the beater strikes the drum downward & the tambourine upward. The shaker "shakes" on both movements & also causes "FRED" my dancing ostrich to perform in time with the music. Also hanging of the stand is my uke, banjolele, mandolin & guitar. All are ready plugged in to a small mixer mounted on a drummers tray at the rear of the truck facing me. All leads, sockets etc are permanently in place.
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This set up was a typical stage arrangement in 2005 and was photographed at the Bristol Country Music Trade Fair at Keynsham, near Bristol in August 2005.
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This one was taken in Tenerife.Amazingly the bones have a world wide interest and the history of striking one piece of wood against another is evident for example with Spanish Maracas. Bones, however, are so named because they were originally, & often still are, animal bones. I remember my dad, who came from Lancashire, playing the "comb & paper", the harmonica and a pair of sheeps bones. Sadly I wasn't interested at the time and never took advantage of a good teacher. I play two handed . In the US there is even a society, "The Rhythm Bones Society", which holds conventions and perpetuates the music of the bones accompanist.
There are some seriously good bones players in the George Formby Society and any meeting will usually feature one or more players who provide percussive accompaniement to the performer.
I also play the kitchen spoons. The above picture is at the Park House Hotel, Blackpool with the LCMC in May, 2004.
I once read the "History of Skiffle" and it suggests that George Formby caused the skiffle sensation of the '50's as youngsters saw this entertainer in his many films. Who else was standing on stage in the '30's & '40's playing a stringed instrument and reaching mass audiences via film?
Inititially with ukes, then with acoustic guitars, later an electric lead, the skiffle era was born in the '50's. Having seen Lonnie Donegan in October 2002 playing live in Telford, I can assure you that skiffle is still alive and well. The distinctive sound of skiffle however came from the washboard and I feature this a lot in my backing music especially for my own versions of well known skiffle numbers.
My introduction to entertaining, as opposed to being a bedroom musician, came from playing in the Unicorn Folk Band. The folk club circuit has many bodhran players. For the uninitiated, the bodrhan is a hand held frame drum played with a beater or tipper. (Some players just use fingers & thumb). Typically the drum stands about 18" tall & 4" deep with a couple of cross braces to give it support. The skin covering is usually goat or calf. The sound is indigenous to Irish music but lends itself well to any light percussive backing on many other types of music.
I also use modern technology in the form of midi sequencing on my Yamaha PSR 2K keyboard.
Add to the above list - wooden blocks, Tenerifan seed pods and things that go bang in the night and there you have the percussive backdrop to my sound!!
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Links:
Wrekin Area Web
Unicorn Folk Club
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