African Drum Tightening
Laird Michiel McKinley
source of information for the Faire related.
I purchased an African wooden drum Saturday at the TRF. The shopkeeper
tightened it for me, as I have the talent of the hole in a Cheerio.
Well the leather head lasted about 6 hours in the drum circle Saturday
night. Now, the center goes "tink" instead of "thud". Any hints on how
to tighten the head? The shopkeeper showed how the strings popped into
a diamond shape, but I can't figure how to reproduce this and get the
head tight.
Any hints?
BTW, the drum circle Saturday night at the TRF was great, even after
getting multiple fire ant bites.
Laird Michael MacKinlay
Laird Michiel McKinley
James Rook
McKinley) wrote:
You might try using a hair drier and very carefully and gently heat
the head just a little. High humidity will loosen the drum head.
Be carefully that you don't tighten the head too much and split the
skin - don't ask how I know this can happen.
Hazy
Please reply to: ha...@jagunet.com
or: ha...@chosensons.com
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Cognito Ergo Dolieo - I think, therefore my head hurts
WMeld
I've never managed to get a djembe to playing pitch just by tightening the
verticals. And even if you do, you'll eventually need to maintain pitch by
using the "Mali weave" - the "diamond" pattern. So, I'll attempt to describe
this as well. I'm sure there's a pictorial representation of it somewhere on
the Web - can't remember where, though.
To begin with, take the free end of the rope and pull it as tight as you can
through the "noose". Thread it through the loop on the bottom ring directly
below and tie it off round that loop or immediately below the "noose". You're
now ready to start the "Mali weave".
Thread the rope behind (or "under") the nearest two verticals (it doesn't
matter whether you go clockwise or anti-clockwise. , pull it tight, bring it
back over the second one and under the first again, and pull towards you. The
second vertical will slip over the first, creating your first "diamond". Thread
the rope under the next two verticals, back over the second and under the
first, and pull. Continue round the drum until it's as tight as you want it. As
a guide, it's good if it reaches playing pitch by the end of the first set of
the weave.
First time round the drum it's obvious which are the next two verticals. But,
when you want to tighten further and have to create another row, it can get
confusing - the thing to remember is that it's always the next two at the top
ring that you have to cross.
The other confusion people often have with the Mali weave is what to do when
you've got to the end of one row and want to continue into another one, higher
up. The problem is that suddenly there aren't two adjacent verticals that
haven't been already crossed. What you have to do is to re-use the second
vertical of the last pair as the first of the next. Then carry on as before,
always referring to the top ring to decide which are the next two to cross, as
I said earlier. It's easier to understand when you're looking at it than just
reading it, believe me.