Drums Designed by Arthur Hull for Remo
These are some of the drums Arthur has designed for Remo, Inc. He has also designed other tools
for drum circle facilitators. You can purchase rhythm instruments, shipping boxes, and more from
Village Music Circles — see our Products section.
A family of West African instruments related to the Nigerian Culture, Ashikos are cone-shaped
drums. Remo offers two styles of Ashikos, both developed in conjunction with world-renowned drum
facilitator, Arthur Hull: the standard drumkey tunable models and the rope-tensioned Ashikos which
feature Arthur’s “Triple-Bump” design for easier tuning and enhanced bass tones.
The Nesting Drums were the first drums that Arthur designed for the REMO, Inc. drum company. His
intent was to help support and encourage the non-professional members of the drumming community by
designing drums that are light and easily portable.
Nesting drums are ideal in accommodating the many varied needs of drum teachers, music teachers,
music therapists, Orff teachers, and drum circle facilitators who lead large groups of people and
need maximum flexibility and mobility carrying their instruments.
Nesting Drums:
- Are constructed of a simple shell with carrying strap
- Have an easily removable head on each end that varies in thickness, thus, the drum has a low
pitch head on one side and a high pitch on the other
- Are indestrutable and kid proof
- Nest inside each other so that you could carry six drums in one drum, or three inside two
drums
The versatility of these drums can best be described by 5 different configurations that they can
be manipulated into, with each arrangement representing the 5 different types of universal drums
found throughout the world. The following is a description of the history of the five drum styles,
their origin, and how the nesting drums can be used to match each style.
- Thick headed body drums are any single-headed hand drum whose head thickness resembles
cow skin, water buffalo skin, or a very thick goat skin. Conga drums from Cuba, Ngoma drums from the
Congo, and some Cariba drums from the Caribbean fit into this category. The tone note of this type
of drum has a soft deep resonance that lends it self to "melody line turning." By taking the thin
head side of the nesting drum off the shells and playing with both your hands on the thick heads
that are left, you have a set of six thick headed body drums that are tuned to each other from very
low to very high. with this configuration you also have six thin headed frame drums.
- Thin headed body drums are any single headed hand drum that has a thin goat or antelope
skin as a head. The most recognizable thin-headed body drum is the Djembe from west Africa and the
Ashiko from Nigeria. By taking the thick head side of the nesting drum off the shells and playing
with both your hands on the thin heads that are left, you have a set of six thin-headed body drums
that are tuned to each other from very low to very high. With this configuration you also have six
thick-headed frame drums.
- Frame drums are recognized as drums whose drumhead diameter is larger than its body.
There are many types of hand drums found around the world that fit this description. By simply
removing and using the twelve heads from the six Nesting Drum shells you have twelve frame drums,
each with a different pitch. Six low pitch frame drums, (thick heads), and six high pitch frame
drums with thin heads.
- Double headed bass drums are the deep resonating bottom drums in any drum ensemble. With
both heads left on the drum you can hit the thin-headed side with a soft mallet and it will sound
like a South America Surdo drum. Turning the drums over and hitting the thick-headed side with a
drum stick and they sound like a tuned set of six Djuns-Djuns.
- Tambor drums are double-headed drums that are played with one hand on each side. Tambor
drums always have a high pitch side played with one hand and a lower pitched side played with the
other hand. These types of drums can be found in Puerto Rico called Mooring drums, in Cuba called
Bata drums, and in India. As a Tambor drum kit you will have six tuned drums.
|
