Jacket for tank drum playing
from $20
A steel drum jacket is a new find and solution from our workshop’s musicians and seamstresses.
Put this white jacket on a steel drum and get an alternate sound. It becomes softer, shorter, friskier, a bit innocent, as if coming from childhood. It’s great to play energetic melodies on the jacketed steel drum, it’s easier to blend the sound of multiple steel drums, we can distinctly hear the party of each participating drum, their sounds do not interfuse.
And what’s most vital: the state you fall into while playing a jacketed steel drum is completely different. It is a delight without a reason, carelessness/nonchalance, a big smile, laughter, energy boost/uplifted energy, lightness and playfulness/friskiness.
A steel drum jacket opens up new horizons of experimenting with music and allows us to hear the instrument anew and start playing the steel drum in a new way. It is like we obtain a new instrument with the notes habitual to us, but with a different manner of sounding, alternate mood and state while playing. We can drum melodies we’re accustomed to or rhythmic patterns (with the jacket on they will sound totally different), or we can also feel inspired to make up new tunes, improvise and play together with other instruments.
Listen to the different variants of jacketed steel drums sounding:
1) https://youtu.be/mp6grYdvo8c
2) https://youtu.be/IJ4M-WwxR0c
3) https://youtu.be/zWWaSvYp4yQ
IMPORTANT: the jacket hides the tongues of the drum, so we can play it either by feel (it can be quite captivating and so much fun) or using the LED lights to point the tongues out. Another idea is to contour the tongues with a marker, felt pen or paints. You can also fill the whole surface of the jacket with a drawing you like thus making it unique.
Put this white jacket on a steel drum and get an alternate sound. It becomes softer, shorter, friskier, a bit innocent, as if coming from childhood. It’s great to play energetic melodies on the jacketed steel drum, it’s easier to blend the sound of multiple steel drums, we can distinctly hear the party of each participating drum, their sounds do not interfuse.
And what’s most vital: the state you fall into while playing a jacketed steel drum is completely different. It is a delight without a reason, carelessness/nonchalance, a big smile, laughter, energy boost/uplifted energy, lightness and playfulness/friskiness.
A steel drum jacket opens up new horizons of experimenting with music and allows us to hear the instrument anew and start playing the steel drum in a new way. It is like we obtain a new instrument with the notes habitual to us, but with a different manner of sounding, alternate mood and state while playing. We can drum melodies we’re accustomed to or rhythmic patterns (with the jacket on they will sound totally different), or we can also feel inspired to make up new tunes, improvise and play together with other instruments.
Listen to the different variants of jacketed steel drums sounding:
1) https://youtu.be/mp6grYdvo8c
2) https://youtu.be/IJ4M-WwxR0c
3) https://youtu.be/zWWaSvYp4yQ
IMPORTANT: the jacket hides the tongues of the drum, so we can play it either by feel (it can be quite captivating and so much fun) or using the LED lights to point the tongues out. Another idea is to contour the tongues with a marker, felt pen or paints. You can also fill the whole surface of the jacket with a drawing you like thus making it unique.
