This month's SPOTLIGHT

This Month's Spotlight:

Updated on 3/26/00

NSO Percussionists visit PAS Museum in Lawton

	
Ken and Charley eagerly await our tour of the Percussive Arts Society's Museum.

	
We pose for the PAS staff.  Our picture		As you can see there are a lot of
will probably be published in the		percussion instruments in the museum.
June issue of Percussive Notes magazine.

	
This snare drum was used by			This unusual mallet instrument is called
Buster Bailey - percussionist with		a Celestaphone.  The bars are actually made
the New York Philharmonic.			from meteorites!!!

	
Of course, I HAD to take some pictures of the various old timpani at the
PAS museum.  No pedal drums here - just an assortment of hand screw and
"rotation-tuned" drums.

The NSO Oklahoma Tour photos can be viewed at http://www.johntafoya.com/NSO

Turkish Crescent

The NSO is performing Mozart's Overture to the Abduction from the Seraglio. This Turkish Crescent (chapeau chinois) is an upright pole with a decorative headpiece . . .

A full Janissary band also could include a number of bass drums, numerous pairs of cymbals, small kettledrums, triangles and tambourines.

Evans Orchestral Drum Heads

Evans is producing a new timpani head. For more information, contact their website at

http://www.evansdrumheads.com/evanscat/orchestral.htm.

Timpani Tuners?

Some people have asked me if I have a preference for electronic tuners. I actually have two tuners; a Peterson strobe tuner and a portable tuner made by Arion (model HU-8400). Here is a picture of the Arion tuner - originally designed for bass guitars, this tuner picks up the low frequencies quite well. Specific information on this tuner can be found at http://www.wheatonmusic.com/arion.htm.

Last Month's Spotlight:

Innovative Instrument Designs

The "Hoe-Down-a-phone"

For use in Copland's "Hoe-Down" from Rodeo