Percussion Only

I had to take an mini vacation from writing here to concentrate on a few things that really needed my attention, however i’m excited to be back!

This past weekend I went to the Chicago Salsa Congress located at the Westin right next to O’Hare airport. What does this have to do with percussion you ask? PLENTY!!! Percussion is the heart and soul of most latin music in my opinion, especially Salsa. The congas, bongos along with many other latin instruments truly make magic in Salsa music.

There were vendors setup all over the place selling Salsa t-shirts, shoes, instructional videos, jewelry…etc. One area however was playing a dvd with some legendary Salsa artists. All of the sudden, there they were..the congas. Man alive, there’s no greater site to me than watching and hearing congas being played.

There comes a point where you think you’ve all the Sasla music there is, or that it doesn’t get any better than ‘that’ song or ‘this’ song. The truth is for anything, there’s always more. When it comes to playing percussion, or any instrument creating new music brings a feeling like no other. Hearing something you never heard before brings the same feeling too. This past weekend that’s what I experienced. Unfortunatley I didn’t learn the names of the songs and artists, but just hearing the music was good enough. Percussion instruments make superb music irresistible, because of that…Salsa music is irresistible.

Glenn

glhyska@percussionly.com

Something I’ve noticed in doing research about percussion instruments, is that it seems a majority of the time African percussion instruments are ‘dressed up’ or has a particular design somewhere on the instrument. It’s pretty cool to just look at let alone play. Whether it be clothes, cars, building design and in this case percussion, putting a stamp on designs from your culture on objects makes the actual piece more of a work of art than something you would bang with your hand or a mallet.

There is no way I can name and or show all of the different drums/percussion instruments, but I found a pretty cool site that allows you to see the creativity and uniqueness of African percussion designs. Here in Detroit we have the D.I.A (Detroit Institute of Arts) that had a re-opening recently, perhaps a small corner could be reserved for some of the artwork conveyed on these instruments.

Christmas is close, we’re getting our first major snow storm of the year…so it begins.

Time to start saving for Aruba!!!

Glenn
glhyska@percussiononly.com

P.S.
Don’t forget to start going to the forum!

I’ve just completed the installation of the forum for Percussion Only, you can access it clicking here!!

I’m pretty excited about having this forum. The best part about having a forum is all the information that can change hands between everyone involved. The look will be changing I believe in the near future, but i’m excited to have it available.

Glenn
glhyska@percussiononly.com

Born in Cuba November 4th, 1926, Carlos Valdez was the innovator of the tunable conga drum, he passed on December 4th 2007, he was 81.

He is also known as the man who created the modern way to play congas. The world was very lucky to have this man. His accomplishments are long, his soul pure. This was quite a human being, and a great loss to the percussion world.

Glenn

glhyska@percussiononly.com

In doing more research on creative percussion instruments, I came across one I’ve never heard of before. This one is called an Agogo bell. One of the reasons I chose this as my next creative instrument is that it’s used frequently by Neil Peart of Rush during his solos. Neil is by far my favorite rock drummer, such imagination and talent. This guy is worth the price of admission all by himself.

The Agogo bell is made of metal. It’s actually two bells held together by a ‘U’ shaped piece of metal which either can be held or attached to a stand. If held the percussionist can squeeze the ‘U’ shaped metal to strike either bell. To see what the Agogo Bell looks like, please click here.

Design plans for the percussiononly.com website are moving along. A new idea for the site has been brought up to me recently which I think will work very well with this website. Soon I’ll be announcing a launch date.

According to the forecast we’re supposed to get our first significant winter weather today. We had a great fall here in Michigan, so now it’s winters turn, let’s hope that overall winter follows the fall’s lead

Soon i’ll be writing about some pretty cool African percussion instruments. Who would think that doing research can actually be fun, percussion is king!

Enjoy the weekend.

Glenn
glhyska@percussiononly.com

So now that everyone is busier than they could ever want to ask for now that the holidays are upon us, when will we have time to play percussion??? Answer: ALWAYS!!! Percussion is easy to play anywhere you want! On a table you can use your hands, a pen or pencil. One could use their mallets on books, magazines or newspapers, on the arm of a chair or couch. Tap your feet to try and figure out a new conga rhythm.

As a group of people that love percussion we’re so lucky to have a way to express ourselves no matter where we are. This is such an advantage because the ability to be creative is always with us!

Glenn
glhyska@percussiononly.com

Music is a lifeline. Percussion is the heartbeat. (c)

As I got older, like I mentioned in an earlier post my passion for percussion only grew. Talking with another person a few months ago about a song that started to play on my mp3 player, it was a Doobie Brothers song, ‘Long Train Running’, the sound of a conga in the background was very obvious I remember. Back when I was around 10 or so, in the Doobie Brothers episode on the sitcom ‘What’s Happening?’ is the first memory I have of seeing congas being played. It’s amazing to think of what has shaped us when we got older.

There are instruments that get your head bobbing and toe tapping, nothing makes you get up and move like percussion however. Well..at least in my opinion

This past Saturday we had the salsa night that I help host at the studio I go to. Damn was it a good time!

We usually have a percussion station setup, my congas, bongos, timbales and a cowbell. Unfortunately because of the time crunch I forgot to put out all instruments except the congas. Turned out to be a small blessing for me however. Usually I bounce around to all the instruments and play them each at some point during the night, since I only had the congas out that’s all I played. I’m no conga professional, believe me…but playing along to salsa and cha cha music sure does help one keep a rhythm, ya know? The wide range of tempos in salsa and cha cha songs help advance my skills, this past saturday was a breakthrough in my conga playing. Percussion is king!!

It’s quite a rush to hear all the college bands, of course especially the percussion section. There’s only about a month left in the season however…if you haven’t had the chance to listen, make sure you do!