Pearl Percussion |
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Pearl as a company began in 1950 and since that time has become one of the best known and respected drums and percussion manufacturers in the world. So it's good that the company is still innovating and developing new instruments and tuition aids as well as new variations of existing instruments such as we have here.
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| And Glen Caruba definitely knows how. Glen Caruba is a talented percussionist who has worked with Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Don Henley, Bruce Hornsby, Arturo Sandoval and others and in the video he demonstrates the basic hand techniques and different strokes required to master the congas. Hell, he makes this cake tin sing like no cake tin has ever sung before! The video cover reckons you can use this
practice aid anywhere, anytime including at the bus stop. Strap this
on whilst waiting for a bus and the only place you will be going is
the nearest psychiatric ward I reckon. Still, a useful, sturdy item
that does the job if you need a convenient way to practice your My favourite item here is definitely the Tang-Tang. This new instrument can be used as a conventional shaker but can also be much more due to the unique wooden "clacker" which can be clacked against the hollow wooden tube through which it is fixed. By tapping the instrument against the palm of your hand you can get some wonderful triplety rhythms that incorporate the aforementioned clack as well as the shaker sound. Shake the Tang-Tang swiftly side to side and you can get a clacky drum roll type effect. Terrific! Clackety-clack - don't talk back! The clave block is injection moulded
so is very solid and comes The tri-agogo is an interesting development
it being three agogo bells which have become While we are on all things "tri" let's
take a look at the tri-bells. Three small cowbells mounted in parallel
onto a metal frame which doubles as a handle. Again, the close proximity
of the bells allows for some fast interplay. An ideal time then to try
out this new fangled Dual Cowbell Beater. Normally I would just use
conventional drumsticks but this
Let's move into more exotic areas with
the which is a new instrument based on a traditional Venezuelan instrument
called a Charrasca. It is basically a steel tube with slots along its
length. Again it can be played hand held or mounted using the integral,
sturdy mount. The blurb on the Charrasquita states that you can produce
a number of effects from triangle to guiro to bell. I have All in all then Pearl have produced some interesting and useful items here. Prices (correct as of June 2005): Practice Conga (inc. video) (£38.30) Web Links: |
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I must admit that when I first strapped on the practice conga
and gave it a tentative slap my initial reaction was that this was no
more than a wooden cake tin. This was probably more to do with my limited
ability as a conga player than the product itself though because as
the accompanying video amply demonstrates, you can actually get many
different sounds from this thing providing you know how. 
conga technique.
with an integrated swivelling mount so it can be played hand-held
or incorporated into your drum kit. I mounted mine on top of the hi
hat in my drum kit set up which worked well, and enabled me to incorporate
a clave type rhythm into drum beats. The clave block, as the name indicates,
gives a wood-block or clave type sound which is loud and cutting. However,
it is not wood of course so call me Mr Picky if you will, but to these
ears it does not quite ring true. You can't beat wood! Well, actually
you can beat wood, and beating wood if far more preferable to beating
plastic. The other point with the clave block is that it does have a
sweet-spot i.e. it has to be struck along the front upper edge, anywhere
else and the sound is well - very plasticky. On the plus side, you will
never break this sucker and it will never splinter or crack.
connected
in wedded bliss. Again it can be hand held via the comfortable padded
handle, or mounted on a drum kit or stand. The clever bit here is that
as the bells are essentially mounted inside one another they are so
much close together which makes for swifter movement from one to the
other. Consequently some very fast and tricky rhythms can be played,
especially if you mount them on a stand and use two sticks.
beater
has 2 striking surfaces - the usual wooden surface and a hard rubber
surface which obviously produces a softer, more muted sound. An interesting
idea indeed although the beater is on the chunky side and certainly
packs a punch especially when using the wooden surface. The dual cowbell
beater also came into use on the cha-cha and fusion Bala cowbells. I
must admit to being at a bit of a loss as to how to review cowbells.
These two sound like cowbells and produce a satisfying ringing tone
when played open and a softer softer sound when muted using one hand
(or the rubber side of the dual cowbell beater). If I get any more cowbells
to review I have decided I am going to try a different approach - I`m
going to fit a ringer and actually hang one round a cows neck
for a day. Then listen as Daisy trundles round the field. I wonder what
happened to true cowbells by the way. When did the ringer get removed?
Perhaps there is a new idea for Pearl? Produce an original cowbell complete
with ringer - ideal present for the cow in your life.
both a metal guiro and a gourd guiro and if I want a guiro
sound I would use one of those, as the guiro sound produced by the Charrasquita
is weak and unconvincing in comparison. I also take exception to the
claim that it can sound like a triangle. The triangle is in my opinion
one of the most underrated and maligned instruments ever. By striking
two inside edges of a triangle while damping with one hand you can play
some blinding samba type rhythms which sound fantastic and which cannot
be produced by any other instrument - including the Charrasquita. And
of course you can simply hang a triangle and strike it once if you want
to - I assume that is the triangle sound the Charrasquita claims to
be able to reproduce. It can't. The Charrasquita does have its uses
though - it makes a splendid cheese grater.
And finally let's get mystic with the Spirit Chimes - three
solid metals tubes mounted on a wooden base and struck with the supplied
beater. The sound is fantastic - pure ringing tones which have at least
a fifteen second decay time. They could only be used for special effect
in specific places as to overuse them would spoil their magic. But they
could prove to be a wonderful addition to anyone's percussive armoury.