In playing for contra dances there are logistical and economic
pressures that push for smaller
bands. While the
older larger
bands would often include drumkits, if you’re thinking about how
to allocate roles among three—or especially two—people
you’re
usually (but
not always) going to do
without a drummer. Even without a drummer, though, bands often want
something in the general direction of a kick drum to provide a thumpy
beat on sets that need it. What are the approaches you see?
The most straightforward is for one of the musicians to stamp their
foot on the stage or a board, and amplify that. This is best suited
for musicians who are interested in more than just stamping out out a
downbeat: it doesn’t have a huge amount of low-end punch but in
exchange the musician can make complex and varied
rhythms using both their feet. A French Canadian “one,
two, and” beat is a common place to start, but it can be taken
much farther. Here’s Noah VanNorstrand in
Buddy System:
If you want something simple, cheap, and portable, with a consistent
thump, analog piezo boxes (ex)
can work well. Here’s Alex
Cumming playing one with Carol Bittenson:
A more flexible option is the Roland SPD::ONE
Kick Pad, which is an electronic instrument. Instead of capturing and
filtering the vibrations induced by your stomps it measures how hard
you’re tapping and uses that to trigger drum sounds. This means you
can choose exactly what it sounds like, including a traditional bass
drum kick. Here’s Guillaume Sparrow-Pepin playing one with Nova, adding some thump to
Everest’s higher-pitched but
more expressive acoustic feet:
Instead of an all-in-one pad you can also combine the brain (sound
synthesis module) from an electronic drum kit with a trigger,
including homemade ones. If you get the
brain used (which isn’t hard—a lot of people get electronic
drum kits and then abandon them) this is a lot cheaper than a Pad at
the cost of carting around more gear. It’s especially a lot cheaper
if you want multiple pedals for different sounds, because the brain is
the main cost. Here’s Guillaume again:
Instead of making a trigger you can also buy a beaterless kick pedal
like the Yamaha
KU-100. This is what I use these days, and is a good fit if you
want to play heel-toe to control
four pedals with two feet.
One that I’ve seen very occasionally but wasn’t able to find a video
of is playing a real kick drum. The main downside is these are very
bulky, but as you’d expect they work well and sound good.
Approaches to Thump
Link post
In playing for contra dances there are logistical and economic pressures that push for smaller bands. While the older larger bands would often include drumkits, if you’re thinking about how to allocate roles among three—or especially two—people you’re usually (but not always) going to do without a drummer. Even without a drummer, though, bands often want something in the general direction of a kick drum to provide a thumpy beat on sets that need it. What are the approaches you see?
The most straightforward is for one of the musicians to stamp their foot on the stage or a board, and amplify that. This is best suited for musicians who are interested in more than just stamping out out a downbeat: it doesn’t have a huge amount of low-end punch but in exchange the musician can make complex and varied rhythms using both their feet. A French Canadian “one, two, and” beat is a common place to start, but it can be taken much farther. Here’s Noah VanNorstrand in Buddy System:
John Cote in Perpetual e-Motion”:
Matt Turino in the Mean Lids:
If you want something simple, cheap, and portable, with a consistent thump, analog piezo boxes (ex) can work well. Here’s Alex Cumming playing one with Carol Bittenson:
And Claude Ginsberg with KGB:
A more flexible option is the Roland SPD::ONE Kick Pad, which is an electronic instrument. Instead of capturing and filtering the vibrations induced by your stomps it measures how hard you’re tapping and uses that to trigger drum sounds. This means you can choose exactly what it sounds like, including a traditional bass drum kick. Here’s Guillaume Sparrow-Pepin playing one with Nova, adding some thump to Everest’s higher-pitched but more expressive acoustic feet:
Instead of an all-in-one pad you can also combine the brain (sound synthesis module) from an electronic drum kit with a trigger, including homemade ones. If you get the brain used (which isn’t hard—a lot of people get electronic drum kits and then abandon them) this is a lot cheaper than a Pad at the cost of carting around more gear. It’s especially a lot cheaper if you want multiple pedals for different sounds, because the brain is the main cost. Here’s Guillaume again:
Instead of making a trigger you can also buy a beaterless kick pedal like the Yamaha KU-100. This is what I use these days, and is a good fit if you want to play heel-toe to control four pedals with two feet.
One that I’ve seen very occasionally but wasn’t able to find a video of is playing a real kick drum. The main downside is these are very bulky, but as you’d expect they work well and sound good.
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