Harmonica Music in Cadillac Records Movie Creates Interest in Original Blues Artists

If you've seen the movie Cadillac Records, featuring classic blues music of Muddy Waters on guitar and Little Walter on harmonica, most people agree on one thing: the movie creates a desire to listen to the original musical artists perform their original renditions of the classic blues music featured in the movie. Hearing the harmonica music and classic blues guitar music in the movie is one thing, but you just can't listen to the covers in the movie, you're drawn to searching for the original Muddy Waters on guitar and Little Walter on harmonica for a true dose of the blues.


You may not like the Cadillac Records movie, but I liked the nostalgia it created for me based on the movie music.


If you want to give the harmonica a try, WorldMusicalInstruments.com is offering the Bends brand harmonicas from Brazil, which are just being introduced into the US market. Bends Harmonicas start around $30:

Didgeridoo Making - How It Is Done

Didgeridoos from WorldMusicalInstruments.com are hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind instruments made by Tree Thump Didj Co. that not only create the unique didj buzz, but are also finished to last a long time. Here's a brief look at the didgeridoo production process of turning a tree branch into a beautiful, long-lasting musical instrument, the didgeridoo:


Tree branches are selected for the didgeridoo production process. These didgeridoos are made in Illinois, so are made from limbs of pine, poplar, or birch trees.


The bark is removed and the branch is shaped and sanded, then split in half, ready to be carved.




Branches are carved to specifications to create didgeridoos in various keys. After carving, the two halves are glued back together and coated inside with a protective resin and hung to dry.


A final sanding, then finishing artwork and/or stain are applied, followed by a glossy protective resin coating. What was once just a tree branch is now a custom didgeridoo!


Please note: Since the didgeridoos hang to dry, there may be some hardened resin drips at the bell of the didgeridoo as pictured here, which in no way impact the great didj buzz:

Duduk Tips for Ghamish Reed

This post provides tips for working with the ghamish reed for the Professional Duduk:




Make sure ghamish is open before playing. If it is not completely closed you can blow warm air through it to get it to open a little more so it will play better. If the ghamish is completely closed, you can do one of three things:

- make sure cap is on and run some warm water into the bottom (open) end, shake it with your finger covering the hole and then pour out. Leave sitting with cap down in a vertical position for up to 20 minutes.

- an alteration of the above is to leave the warm water in the ghamish and let it sit for awhile with cap on, upside down.

- on a really dry day with a very closed ghamish you can take the cap/bridle off and set the top upside down into about 1/2 to 1 inch of warm water. This can be dangerous if you forget and leave it! The ghamish is not a split reed like bassoon or oboe; it will want to revert to a round shape if left in that water. This is not good and you would need to carefully put the cap back on and hope it comes back down to a reasonable opening with time.

Once it is open enough to play (you never want it too open- if so it will feel really hard to blow) you can use the bridle to make very slight adjustments to the pitch. Remember that ghamish can change pitch in the middle of a tune with no warning so that bridle needs to be able to hold on to the reed a little for adjustments. In dry environments you can put a little water under the bridle on the ghamish to help it grab.

The duduk is played with very little reed in the mouth. Just a quarter inch or so. The embouchure is not like oboe or any other double reed woodwind in that the reed is not held between the teeth with the lips covering them. You must keep the reed/ghamish in front of the teeth controlled by the lip muscles. The whole top minor third of the range (on an A duduk from G to the highest B) is all achieved by squeezing the reed so the opening has to be good to allow for the control to get these notes. If the opening is too little, or the ghamish is dry many times these notes can be very sharp. And conversely if it is too wet and open you will have great difficulty playing the top part of the range.

These tips for working with the duduk ghamish reed were provided by professional woodwind player Chris Bleth.

To purchase the Professional Duduk from Armenia, visit WorldMusicalInstruments.com.

Chinese Instruments Featured in Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony

I am so glad I watched the entire Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. I was unable to leave the room, even during commercials, for fear of missing any part of the most awesome live performance ever! Chinese musical instruments played a vital role in the performance, providing a glimpse into Chinese culture from many perspectives: historical, spiritual, and emotional. It's difficult to find words to describe this amazing performance. I encourage you to view these beautiful still photos (be sure to flip thru all the pages of photos).

We witnessed innovative use of Chinese musical instruments to not only provide music but set the mood and provide quite a light show! The 2008 drummers wowwed us by playing a version of an ancient Chinese instrument called the Fou drum. In its original form, I understand that it was a type of jug drum which is also seen in other cultures. If anyone knows where to get a drum like those used toward the beginning of the ceremony (even without the "light up" effect), I'd love to hear about it.



We heard the Chinese Guzheng during the calligraphy dancing performance.

         

Also spotted throughout performances were the Chinese Erhu, Chinese Pipa, and the ever popular Chinese Wind Gong.

Please let us know if you identified any other Chinese musical instruments during the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, or if you have any more information about the drums played by the 2008 drummers.

World Music Resource

WorldMusicalInstruments.com recently found a great resource web site for those interested in World Music, World Music Central. This site provides a wealth of information including World Music News and World Music Resources for artists and for everyone who wants to hear and learn more about world music. Check it out!

Best Kalimba Thumb Piano

According to Nicole F. from Denver CO, WorldMusicalInstruments.com offers the best kalimba thumb piano ever!

Nicole ordered the large thumb piano (item code THMP) in mid-April, and patiently waited for more stock to arrive. When notified that her kalimba was ready to ship, she conveyed how much she liked this particular thumb piano because of the beautiful rosewood body, which resonates really well, and because of the substantial adjustable keys. According to Nicole, this is the best thumb piano on the market and she has used quite a few. Thanks Nicole!

Click here to buy a large kalimba thumb piano.

Chicago Area School Assembly Supports Music In Our Schools

In March 2008, World Musical Instruments delivered the World Musical Instrument Experience school assembly program at Harrison School in Wonder Lake IL, a suburb northwest of Chicago. This elementary school assembly program was provided in support of Music In Our Schools month.

Elementary school children got hands-on use of musical instruments from around the world including African drums (djembe, djun djun, talking drum, ashiko), Middle Eastern drums (doumbeks, darbuka), instruments from India (tabla, ghungroos ankle bells), percussion instruments (gongs, shakere, rain sticks, agogo, tambourines, ratchets, kokinko, kalimba) - over 50 instruments were presented to the children, reviewing the country of origin, and we played along to music from Africa, sitar and tabla music from India, duduk flute music from Armenia, and didgeridoo music from Australia.

To support the school's goal of hands-on use of the world musical instruments, groups of about 50 children each were brought into the music room. Sessions were conducted all morning to allow music-making by the children, using techniques similar to drum circles. With instruments in their hands, the students are very engaged and learn more about the instruments and the variety of sounds.

Our thanks for Harrison School for inviting WorldMusicalInstruments.com to share our joy of musical instruments from around the world!

Play Name-It Contest to Win $50 Musical Instruments Shopping Spree

WorldMusicalInstruments.com is giving you the opportunity to win a 15% off discount coupon (valid on orders of $99 or over; coupons are awarded each Sunday and are valid for one week). To play our contest, simply identify a world musical instrument from a picture. If you're right (or close enough), we'll email a coupon code to you and enter your email address in a drawing to win $50 store credit.

Name-It!

Don't know this instrument? Check back each Monday for a new instrument. Contest ends June 1 2008 with a drawing for one $50 store credit from all correct submitted entries (no minimum order value; chances of winning are not increased by multiple submissions).

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Answers will be posted. FYI, the pictures used in this content were taken at the NAMM show in January 2008. WorldMusicalInstruments.com visits this show of musical instrument manufacturers to look for new products and strengthen relationships with our suppliers. And we have tons of fun, which we want to share!

Thanks for playing!

Vantage Point Movie Music - Listen for Duduk World Wind Instrument

In the upcoming movie "Vantage Point", don't expend all your energy solving the puzzle. Be sure to listen to the music throughout the movie to see if you can hear world flutes such as the duduk. In a recent conversation with Chris Bleth, professional woodwind player, he told me a story about duduk music working its way into the "Vantage Point" sound track. Chris was warming up with the duduk, even though it was not originally intended for use in the movie. Suddenly he heard "What's that sound - we've got to have it in the movie music!". And with that, plans were underway to include duduk music played by Chris Bleth in the "Vantage Point" movie music.

Chris does a variety of work in the Los Angeles area playing duduk for films (Chronicles of Narnia, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, The Island), TV shows (Path to 9/11, Over There, Star Trek Enterprise), TV and radio commercials, video games, albums and live concerts.


In the picture on the right, Chris is playing beautiful duduk music with an ensemble in the Ararat Music booth at the NAMM 2008 show in Anaheim CA.

Chicago Area School Presents Awesome Meet the Artist Concert

On January 10, 2008 I attended the Waubonsie Valley High School Music Department's Meet the Artist Concert and can only describe it as awesome! Music in our schools is very important at every level in schools. First a bit about Waubonsie Valley High School's Music Department:
- The GRAMMY Foundation® Signature Schools program, recognized the top 22 public schools across the country for outstanding commitment to their music education programs. Determined by a blue-ribbon panel of top music educators and professionals, schools are awarded grants for their music departments. In 2007, Waubonsie Valley High School located in Aurora IL was among the top 3 schools in the country, which gave it GRAMMY Signature Schools Gold status.

Last night's concert featured only the Freshman students from the following groups: Concert Bands, Concert Orchestras, Bass Chorus, Cecillian Singers. Each group performed individually. And the entire group (nearly 200 students) performed with an Artist-in-Residence, Tom Sharpe. Tom is an internationally recognized, award-winning composer, performer, and recording artist (read more about the artist).

The concert was about 2 hours worth of excellent music. All performances were great! Particularly enjoyable was the Percussion Ensemble performance of Nutcracker Sweets arranged by David Steinquest.

But they truly saved the best for last with all performance groups and Tom Sharpe performing Tom's World Percussion Symphony #1 in C minor. This is my type of music - lots of world percussion, lots of keyboard, and an inspiring combination of orchestra, band and vocals.

This artist-in-residence program was funded by a grant from the Indian Prairie Education Foundation, which supports all elementary, middle and high schools in Illinois' Indian Prairie School District 204. WorldMusicalInstruments.com is proud to be a fine arts patron to help support these wonderful school music programs.

Multicultural Instruments for School Assembly

WorldMusicalInstruments.com provides school assembly presentations to elementary schools in the Chicago area. We customize these school assemblies to fit with the school theme, like Multicultural Week, or Fine Arts Week, or Music in the Schools Week. WorldMusicalInstruments.com offers instruments from around the world, so the emphasis of our grade school assembly programs is showcasing a wide variety of instruments that represent many world cultures, as well as featuring music from around the world.

We're often asked about the instruments that we bring to these school assemblies.

Here is a general guideline of what types of instruments to include in school assemblies:
- durable musical instruments
- safe musical instruments
- lightweight musical instruments
- fun musical instruments

Durable musical instruments - We avoid ceramic doumbeks, because they easily crack if the edge is banged on the floor. Since we work with elementary school children, when they have hands-on experience with the drums and move from instrument to instrument, accidents do happen. With some items made from gourds like the shakere, a not-so-gentle dropping can cause a crack in the gourd.

Safe musical instruments - Safety is always important in the classroom, especially with the younger school children. Crowd control is also an issue during a drumming circle experience. We usually avoid putting "sticks" in the hands of the children. A lot of our drums are hand drums, which is best for the young elementary school crowd. Beaters can accidentally poke an unsuspecting classmate. Beaters can also be used on drums that are intended for hand drumming, which can damage drum heads. For items like the gong which require a beater, we like to have a teacher or assembly presenter manage the gong, passing the beater from child to child as they take turns banging the gong. Be sure to clean all instruments after each assembly presenation if the students have hands-on use of the instruments.

Lightweight musical instruments - We bring some heavy items to school assembly presentations, but keep them in contol of an adult or keep them on the ground. The gong is one that an adult must control. The djun-djun drum is kept on the floor and played by hand, unless the assembly presenter uses it to lead a drum circle. Fiberglass doumbeks are great for elementary school drumming circles because they are so lightweight but have big sound.

Fun musical instruments - When deciding what instruments to include in a school assembly presentation, include fun items like a bulb horn (brings in wind family of instruments without the saliva issues!). The gong is big fun, of course. The bull roarer makes an interesting sound, but needs a lot of room and can only be used by the assembly presenter.

The big question is - what instruments do you bring to a school assembly presentation? We're constantly adding to the collection, but here is a list of the main instruments (some of which are pictured):

ashiko drum djun-djun doumbeks (fiberglass and aluminum) tabla set kids conga drum damroo monkey drum stir drum rain stick shakere kalimba bulb horn gong gungaroos ankle bells egg shakers bongos tambourines maracas

Do you conduct school assembly presentations using musical instruments? Let us know what instruments you include!