The sound inside the kit is kind of glorious, but I think during a fight it will be hellaciously loud. Might need to hand out earplugs to the fighters. I’ll be working on arm protection next. And maybe some smaller noisemaking items.
Category Archives: Video
GONG FIGHTS – helmet test
It works. More to come.
Veering off into left field – to build a marimbula
This is a long way from xylophones and propane-tank drums, but I’ve really enjoyed building cajóns and – for the first time – a marimbula.
The marimbula is a Caribbean instrument, descended from the African kalimba, and generally functions as a bass. As you’ll see in the video at the bottom of the post, I first experimented with a 6-key marimbula built onto the back of one of my cajons, just to figure out the basics of construction.
This one is a 16-key marimbula – which I’ve decided has about three too many bottom-end keys and perhaps one too many high-end keys, as the sound quality falls off quite a bit at the ends of its scale. Next, I might try building one like a piano keyboard (with two layers of keys in white and black) centered in the middle of this scale.
The tuning has been kinda challenging – I finally settled on D – but I’m tuning it slowly by ear because the digital tuning apps can’t handle all the overtones it puts out. Anyway, it’s a helluva lot of fun to play – particularly on a nice, resonant wood floor – because it’s easy to play, and the notes send vibrations through your butt and up your spine. I take great satisfaction in building instruments that create physical joy along with pleasant music.
Video: XyloVan at Burning Man 2014
A little sampler of the hundreds of people who played XyloVan at Burning Man, 2014.
XyloVan walkaround – L.A. Decom 2012
XyloVan in full voice – L.A. Decom 2012
Be warned – it’s LOUD. And that makes us happy.
Drumming on XyloVan at L.A. Decom 2012
Contemplative jam at L.A. Decom 2012
Burning Man 2012: Burn Wall Street – and torch that Egyptian god while you’re at it
At some point – say, \next year – we’ll probably quit aiming a camera at the same damn spectacle that everyone else is videoing and actually absorb a burn face-to-face with open soul, unfiltered by a 2-inch screen.
Until then, we’re happy to share these videos of Burn Wall Street and the Anubis burn:
Word from a friend in the Rangers was that the Anubis pyro show originally belonged to Burn Wall Street – but that the Burning Man Organization (BMORG or, simply, the Borg) reaappropriated it because of unspecified unreadiness on the part of the BWS crew.
It was a fine show:
Contemplative Laura
Laura – a multiinstrumentalist who dropped by to discuss XyloVan mallet technology found a mood: