Types Of Harps

Hills alive to the sound of music

HAVE you ever wondered what the Cumbrian countryside sounds like?

A huge arts project on Birkrigg Common, near Ulverston, this weekend invites you to go and have a listen to the local landscape.

Harmonic Fields is the latest project in the Lakes Alive programme of arts and performance events throughout Cumbria.

Set on the highest point of the fellside, looking down over Morecambe Bay, to visit this collection of 500 hand-crafted Aeolian wind-powered instruments is an almost otherworldly experience.

French arts company Lieux Publics have spent all week assembling this bizarre array of sculptures, which capture the strong winds of the region and create the soundtrack to the countryside.

Artistic director Pierre Sauvageot says: “This area of the Lake District is very beautiful to look at, but most importantly for me, the weather is perfect.

“Being on the seaside, the wind blows up on to the hills and through the instruments and creates the sounds.”

He selected the site from four possible locations across Cumbria, because of its suitability for hosting the large-scale installation.

Making its UK debut from today until Sunday, the project has already been well-received in Holland and Grenoble and heads out to New York later this month.

Pierre says: “I visited some sites earlier this year, but as soon as I came here I knew this was where it should go.

“Even though it was very dark and hidden by fog, I could tell that it was right.

“There is wind, but not too strong, and there is no big problems with noise and neighbours.

“It is nice to listen to for an hour, but when you are trying to sleep it wouldn’t be so good.

“I think the audience here will want something like this, and people from urban areas will also want to travel to see landscape art instead of always staying in the city.”

Pierre and 10 other technicians arrived on Monday to install over 20 different types of conventional and makeshift instruments, including metal and wood cellos, strings, flutes, Balinese scarecrows, sirens, gongs, harps and bamboo organs, that have been organised into sections named after different types of winds from around the world.

When the wind is at its strongest you can hear the instruments from hundreds of metres away, as each one is positioned to perfection.

“It is different when the wind is strong to when there is no wind,” says Pierre.

Types of Percussion Instruments « Shocl Music Publishing

Types of Percussion Instruments June 13th, 2011 | By admin

Percussion Instruments -

The first percussion instrument groups were put simultaneously in the late 1800s one time after the creation of the bass drum pedal. This creation made it expected for one individual to play some percussion instruments (snare percussion instrument, bass percussion equipment, and cymbals) at one time. The set evolved as it was utilized to escort jazz instrumentalists in New Orleans all through the 1920s. As new instruments were introduced to the percussion instrument set (tom-toms and the high head covering cymbal) in the late 1920s and 1930s, new methods developed. The percussion instrument set, furthermore routinely referred to as percussion instrument kit, and is an assemblage of percussion instruments which is presented by one instrumentalist. It generally encompasses bass percussion equipment, snare percussion equipment, some cymbals, and tom toms. Other percussion instruments such as cowbells and woodblocks are occasionally embraced. This superficial, cylindrical percussion instrument makes a sound that is very distinctive to the percussion instrument (higher in hurl than the bass percussion instrument). The snares, which are instrumentalists of metal wires, are dragged over the groundwork head of the drum. This makes a buzzing or snapping sound when the percussion instrument is strike utilizing a variety of methods. The timpani is often called a kettledrum because it is formed like a kettle. The timpani have a large copper or fiberglass case with a lone drumhead. It furthermore has a pedal means which permits the instrumentalist to adapt the tension of the drumhead, thereby fine-tuning the drum to different pitches. This makes the timpani the only percussion instrument which can make decisive musical remarks. To make the deep throw of the timpani, its drumheads are hit with mallets. Mallets are made of supple and hard felt or timber and will produce distinct pitch on the timpani. Timpani are most often performed in twos or assemblies of four.

OTHER PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS There are numerous instruments included in the percussion family commonly renowned as “toys”. Some demonstrations of these would be: cymbals, triangle, gong, maracas, tambourine, and hand percussion devices.

CYMBAL -

Cymbals slim around concave plates (usually made from copper-tin alloy); have been renowned since the middle Ages. Often utilized in religious observance, they became part of the ensemble round the 18th century and are performed by dashing two simultaneously or by being struck individually by beaters.

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