Percusize Me!: Snare Drum

Showing posts with label Snare Drum. Show all posts

Monday, 25 November 2019

Premier 632 strainer and other relatives.

I bet many of you, like me, own Premier snare drums featuring the classic #632 snare strainer.

©Musikk-miljo.no

There are also other brands featuring this kind of holed plate (like Ludwig), and I can see why you may end up hating this piece of gear, as attaching modern snares to it can be a pain in the you know where... Why this design? Because these strainers were built with gut snares in mind.

Although some of us still use gut snares on certain drums, that´s not the norm nowadays, so drummers using snappy wires with these strainers may end up getting to not very elegant solutions...

To solve this issue, I came up with a very easy, inexpensive, handy and practical idea. Go and get an electrical connection strip (in whatever colour you like. I chose black because I find it more elegant). They are dirty cheap.

Cut two individual pieces.

©David Valdés

Get rid of all the leftovers (just for aesthetics. It´s nice to do things well 😉).

©David Valdés

Now we can attach our snares... I have used leather cord with a circular section, very rigid and strong.

©David Valdés

Pass the cord from behind trough a hole. Try to make it run parallel to the snares in order to avoid torsion, thus buzz (no pun intended).

©David Valdés

The holes you passed the cord through may not be at the same height. That´s ok as long as the tension in both ends is the same. Now pass the two pieces we cut before.

©David Valdés

Put them touching the plate, adjust the cord to the desired tension and tighten the screws.

©David Valdés

Do the same on the other end.

©David Valdés

A very effective, secure and elegant solution to attach modern snares to old school strainers. Show me your Premier drums and how you solved this problem!

…et in Arcadia ego.

Friday, 24 May 2019

Do it yourself historical rope drum (IV)

Today is the last instalment of the making process of my own historical rope drum. You can see the first part HERE, the second one HERE, and the third one HERE.

Just so you can remember, this is how the drum looked like at the end of part 3:

The first thing I did was making ten leather ears. They tense the rope, and I made them using the same materials and procedures described in "Restauration of a rope drum". This is the result:

I bought a couple of natural skin heads (the batter one thicker, the resonant one thinner) mounted on wooden flesh hoops at Baena Sonido and, with quite a few metres (around 20) of hemp rope and lots of patience, I started roping the drum:

Here´s a detailed view of the ears I made:

Here you can see the pig tail (historically correct. See the iconography in part 3):

Once the roping job was done, I started working on the snares. For that, I soaked quite a few metres of natural gut I also bought at Baena Sonido:

Once flexible, I tied a bowline knot to the butt plate I bought at Cooperman:

I, then, passed the gut through the "J hook" strainer I also bought at Cooperman:

After six passes, here is the rear part:

The front part:

These are the snares on the resonant head:

Here´s a detail of the drag rope (used to hang the drum from a shoulder when not playing and to carry the instrument here are there):

The pig tail. See how the rope was interweaved to add more tension to the heads:

This is how I secured the drag rope. See the leather thread I used to stop the end from undoing:

My job could have finished here, but I wanted to add some more details. So, I secured a bronze British style carry hook to the batter counterhoop I bought at Cooperman. This allows the drum to be hung from a sling:

I also added three bronze legs to the batter counterhoop (which I also bought at Cooperman). Historically, when the drummer was not playing and was resting or doing something else, he would have put the drum on the ground, but always on the batter counterhoop. The snare counterhoop had the drag rope, and it would have been in contact witht the ground (we have to remember these kind of drums were played outdoors, on grass, ground, mud...), and that would have damaged it. Also the snare and the strainer (delicate parts) could have been damaged. Because of that, the drum was always put on the floor on the batter counterhoop, and these legs were used to separate and isolate the drum from the ground. Historically, always three:

Here you can see the drum on the floor, on the batter counterhoop, and how the legs keep it away from the floor:

Here you can see the batter counterhoop with all its "things" (carry hook and legs):

Finally, a photo showing the finished drum:

I think it´s gorgeous, and I can tell you it sounds fantastically well. Thanks to this drum (16"x16") and the other one I own (14"x14"), I have plenty of colours to play early music. I will upload some audio files in future articles. Do you like this drum?

…et in Arcadia ego.

Friday, 18 January 2019

A curiosity: on the anatomical and physical condition recquired to play a drum.

As you already may know, I have a keen interest in everything related to the history and tradition of drums. Searching for information in the Biblioteca Virtual del Ministerio de Defensa ("Virtual Library of the Ministry of Defense"), I found a book entitled "Manual para las bandas de cornetas y tambores" ("Manual for the cornets and drums bands"), written by Manuel Novoa López in 1901 (you can download it legaly and free of charge by clicking on the link).

Having a quick look at it I found something that caught my eye, and today´s short article will deal with it:

One of the most common things one can read in groups, forums and other drummers sabbaths is that wrists "have to be strengthened", that "they need to be developed", that "you need strong muscles", "strength is need in your wrists" and things like that. You can easily find percussionists who advocate this, together with exercises and calisthenics to transform your wrists into killing devices capable of bending steel beams...

This has always surprised me... First, because I have never considered technique as sheer brute force. On the contrary, I think it´s a matter of hability, dexterity, logic and reasoning. Second, because my wrists are more like those belonging to a delicate Versallian damsel than like those hairy wrists belonging to a Rhine bargeman. Well... This is what today´s article is all about: a curiosity in this book which recommends quite the contrary to what we are used to.

"ON THE LEARNERS OF THE DRUM

They must also observe the rules prefixed in paragraphs 1 and 2 regarding the learners of cornets, and to have the wrists thin and agility in the arms, in order to be able to handle the sticks with ease.

For this reason, I order that if they can be boys of the civilian class, they are preferable to the soldiers of the companies, for the latter have their wrist too developed, being that a great setback for learning the drums.

Meeting all these conditions both the cornets and drums, it is most likely to get satisfactory results in a short time".

Funny, isn´t it? According to the author, the drummers, who are going to beat for extended periods of time at great volume in the battlefield, don´t need (more on the contrary!) specially developed or strong wrists.

There´s another remarkable thing in those three paragrahps: the author mentions "boys", and that connects with the drummer boy tradition. There was a time when infantry drummers were teens, even children (records exist proving that nine and ten years old boys served in the American Civil War). Because of the year this book was written (1901), it seems very unlikely that children were enroled, but it´s plausible that boys in their 15s, 16s or 17s were admitted in those bands.

Let´s leave the drummer boy thing for a future article. Today, the interesting thing is what was, at the beginning of the XXth century, considered appropriate, in terms of anatomics and physical condition, to play a drum.

So... How are your wrists doing? 😏

…et in Arcadia ego.

Thursday, 10 January 2019

The New Year´s concert, the "Österreichische locke" and tradition on snare drum.

With the New Year´s Concert still fresh, today I´d like to write about something we all like: the snare drum "solo" preceding the traditional "Radetzky March".

Here you have the snare drum part. Apart from some missprints here and there which can be easily corrected on the go, there´s nothing on it indicating an introduction:

Where do those eight bars come from? The answer is easy and obvious should you have ever played in a wind band. From time to time, and in order to allow wind players to rest, there are moments during a parade where the band stops playing music. During that "resting time" in which musicians are not playing, they still march and mark time and, for them to do it rhythmically, there´s one musician that doesn´t stop playing: the drummer. The drummer plays a marching beat (which one depends on the country, tradition, type of music, personal taste...) and, when the drum major wants the music to start, he "signals the drummer, the drummer rolls off and the band picks it up without any loss of time".

Well, the "solo" we hear right before the Radetzky March is a roll off indicating the rest of the band that they have to start playing at the end of the eight bar phrase. That "call" also dictates, quite obviously, the tempo. Is that "call" something played at random? No... We can´t forget the Radetzky March is military music written in an country with great musical and martial tradition, belonging (at that time) to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, very proud of its traditions. Every infantry and cavalry has its own beats and signals, so each one of them has their own roll offs.

These eight bars played before the Radetzky March form the "Österreichische Locke" ("Austrian Roll Off"), which every Austrian musician knows, as it´s part of their tradition and musical heritage.

As you can see, it´s a phrase intimately related to the Austrian military and musical tradition. There´s no need to write it down, as every drummer knows it. If we want all the musicians in the orchestra to start playing without a cue from the conductor, all they need is that eight bar phrase.

Do more roll offs exist? Of course... There´s also the "Deutsche Locke" ("German Roll Off"), in use in this country and in 6/8 (also a typical marching bar):

These roll offs are not only played in Europe. In quite a few South American countries (Chile, Paraguay, Perú...) this "calls" are played due to the Prussian influence, as Prussian officers were in charge of putting together, organizing, arranging and training the new armies of the new countries after their independence from Spain.

There are also roll offs in the United States...

Are those drums, bass drum and cymbals at the beginning coming from Alfred Newman´s inventiveness? No... That introduction proves he knew well the military tradition, as he is literally quoting a roll off. I found this roll off in page 57 of Sanford Moeller´s "The Moeller Book: The Art of Snare Drumming". The book was published in 1925 (quoting music dating back many decades -centuries!- ago), the fanfare was composed in 1933. See how internalized we have military, popular, sacred music...? Much more than we think.

Before fininshing, I´d like to show you the version of the Radetzky March that, under Óliver Díaz, the Gijón Symphony Orchestra recorded live during the 2005 New Year´s Concert. Truly yours on snare drum:

Now you know your stuff... Next time a conductor asks you to play an introduction to "Radetzky March", you won´t be wrong with the "Österreichische Locke". That will be the most authentic and true to the original spirit.

Should you want to play in the true Viennese style, feel free to download my own edition of the percussion part (send me an email should you want a pdf version). Upload your videos, photos and tag me. I´ll be happy to know my version is played around the world. Here it is:

I´d like to thank Manolo Durán for his help and knwoledge.

…et in Arcadia ego.

Thursday, 4 January 2018

DIY historic rope tension drum (II).

On "DIY historic rope tendion drum (I)" I showed you the shell, counterhoops and their characteristics. Today I´ll show you how I finished them.

First thing I did was sanding the shell (both inside and outside) with 000 steel wool to remove all traces of sticky residue left by the masking tape and, also, to prepare the surface. I highly recommend using a mask in order to avoid breathing the suspending small steel particles liberated during this process. With regard to sanding, it´s of vital importance to do it following the wood grain.

Once the shell was perfectly smooth, I used a gauze I bought at Leroy Merlin to apply tung oil to the inside. Tung oil has been known for centuries to treat wood, specially musical instruments.

Jars containing tung oil. © David Valdés

Gauze © David Valdés

Piece of gauze ready for spreading oil. © David Valdés

The piece of gauze is slightly moistened with oil and spread over the shell (always following the wood grain!). My personal experience is that using small quantities produces better results because it gets almost dry once applied. If we use too much oil we´ll get blobs and stains. On the following photo we can see how the first coat was applied.

This is the first coat still wet.

Once the oil has been applied (remember... not much!), I inmediately rubbed a piece of clean gauze. This way the coat gets very uniform and almost dry. If you do this well, you may not have to sand before applying the next coat. Use the same 000 steel wool we used for preparing the shell before aplying a second one (the previous coat has to be completely dry before doing so, which normally entails 24 hours).

This shell got nothing less than 10 coats of tung oil (blame my inexperience... Remember this is my first building attempt). I really like how it looks, with a very nice dark colour, but an expert I got in touch with told me four coats were enough to cover the pores and protect it from xylophagous. From that day on, all of my interiors get nothing more than four coats... :-D. Here you can see the result:

On the next photo you can see the inside already finished and the outside still "raw". There´s a big difference, isn´t it?

My idea for the outer part was to stain it using chestnut colour, as I saw some historical drums finished this way and I really liked them. Before starting the staining process I covered all parts already treated to avoid accidents (stains, splashes...). As always, Leroy Merlin was my supplier.

I used water based tint I bought at Leroy Merlin (I know, I know... They are going to make their principal shareholder :-D ).

I mixed different quantities of tint and water untill I got the desired colour and tried it on a piece of maple.

Then I moistened the gauze with the mix and stained the shell using the same technique I used for applying the oil to the inside. I used the table described on "Rotating table for working with drum shells".

On the next photo we can see the process of aplying the first coat of stain.

And this is the result after that first coat.

Once dry, I sanded it with 000 steel wool to even the finish.

Then, I applied another coat of tint. The next photo shoes the shell right after it was applied, the tint still wet.

This is the result once dry.

©David Valdés

After two coats I was happy with the result, so next thing I did was applying some wax I got you already know where... :-D

©David Valdés

This is the shell after the first coat.

©David Valdés

I repeated the waxing process three times (I went the easy road: I liked how it looked and, as I was told, three coats is more than enough to protect the wood). I let the wax get dry for 24 hours before applying every new coat. This is the final result.

©David Valdés

Regarding the counterhoops, I had to work on the shavings and imperfections they had because of the drilling. It seems that, when drilling at an angle, they are unavoidable, as the fibres do not break homogeneously.

I used a paste to cover imperfections, pores and equal the surface.

©David Valdés

On this photo you can see the paste before drying and sanding.

©David Valdés

On the following ones counterhoops are perfectly smooth.

©David Valdés

Now they were ready to get their finish. I used tung oil to get a nice contrasting tone with the shell.

On the next photo you can see the upper hoop already has one coat while the bottom one is still raw.

©David Valdés

Both counterhoops after getting their first coat...

And this is the result after 10 coats (I promise the photos do not do them justice. They are gorgeous!)

©David Valdés

The nex photos show both the shell and the counterhoops once finished. I promess they look much better live.

©David Valdés

With all the parts ready, it was just a matter of assembling them, but that´s something I´ll show on a future article.

What techniques do you use for staining/waxing? What colours would you have chosen? Let me know!

…et in Arcadia ego.

Posts by themes

Percusize Me! en español.

Monday, 25 November 2019

Premier 632 strainer and other relatives.

Friday, 24 May 2019

Do it yourself historical rope drum (IV)

Friday, 18 January 2019

A curiosity: on the anatomical and physical condition recquired to play a drum.

Thursday, 10 January 2019

The New Year´s concert, the "Österreichische locke" and tradition on snare drum.

Thursday, 4 January 2018

DIY historic rope tension drum (II).