Ad Astra Arkestra Percussion Rig

I am the second auxiliary percussionist with the band the Ad Astra Arkestra.  I get to go off on some hand drums, a glock, and a big 24" marching bassdrum.  It is fun.

Drumracas- Custom Made Drum Based Noise Maker Shakers

This is a drum device I made with two kiddy toms, some bouncy balls, stray snare strands, some skrilla, and some random drum accessories.  Think of it as a slightly indeterminate percussion object, in the Cage vein of not being able to control aspects of the performance.  A sound sample can be found below.  It is a drumraca and has the ability to create interesting layers for effects to build upon (see ambient sketch below, which will be used in a larger piece), as well as pieces written for an ensemble, and a cocktail drum set (in process . . . ).

-----Origianal Drumracas Sound sample-----

-----An ambient sketch done with Drumracas-----

The Dumbek and Middle Eastern Hand Drum Links

The dumbek, (aka tablah, darabukka , derbocka, and dumbelek among many others) is a Middle Eastern/North African goblet drum whose name varies depending on the location. It is also the lead percussion instrument in most traditional middle eastern genres. I would like to start focusing some of my musical time on brushing up on my hand drumming skills, and I hopefully we begin post rythmic breaks downs of various beats I work on from week to week.

http://outofthedarj.com/rhythms/ - With Musical notation and youtube videos

http://www.therotunda.net/drum/index.html- Kamuran's Dumbeck Guide- has a 32 rhythm pdf

http://www.joyofbellydancing.com/drum2.htm#Rhythms - from the Joy of BellyDancing

http://www.khafif.com/rhy/- lots of rhythms, but I don't like the notation on the site

http://www.darkwaters.org/drumming/middle-eastern_rhythms.php- this one has audio samples as well with the notations

http://www.aletadances.com/rhythms.html- Middle Eastern Rhythms Article by Aleta Quinn, another good site for reference. I like the text notation of this the best, and any notation posting I do will mimic this.