Marimba Reeds

[michael sam wild]

I got a marimba when i worked in West Africa and twang it from time to time. It is a free reed but doesn't sit in a slot so how does it generate its sound. This maybe obvious but I'm intrigued

[Sebastian]

I got a marimba when i worked in West Africa and twang it from time to time. It is a free reed but doesn't sit in a slot so how does it generate its sound. This maybe obvious but I'm intrigued

 

You mean a thumb piano, don't you? -- The vibration of the reeds is given to a big resonator, which can move enough air so that the tone becomes loud enough. It's the same with strings: If you hold a guitar string between your hands and someone plucks it, there is only a very very little sound. If you fix the string to a resonator, the sound becomes much louder.

 

But this is not the principle of free reed instruments. Free reed instruments make their tone by periodically interrupting an airflow.

 

Sebastian

[inventor]

Marimba: Also known as karimba and kalimba, more usually known as the Mbira in Africa and Sansa in other parts of the world. Did you know that Bill Wesley makes what I would call a Duet Mbira in the States, which I believe can be seen at "Button Box". Although the Wesley Keyboard in his patent differs from the Hayden Keyboard (I see it as a squashed form of that); as far as his Mbiras are concerned if you can play a Hayden Duet Concertina you should be immediately able to play the Wesley Mbira with both hands!

I haven't seen one in the fleash yet, however judging by the photographs they look really well made instruments, quite unlike the roughly made African ones that I have seen. These instruments were discussed in these forums around a year or less ago with illustrations but I am unable to provide the direct link.

I would be very interested to hear from any Hayden Concertina player who has played one of these instruments.

Inventor.

[Ivan Viehoff]

Just to be clear, you are not talking about the normal meaning of the word marimba:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimba

but this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalimba

As the above makes clear, it is a lamellophone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamellophone

ie, plucked plate, rather than any kind of reed instrument.

[michael sam wild]

I got a marimba when i worked in West Africa and twang it from time to time. It is a free reed but doesn't sit in a slot so how does it generate its sound. This maybe obvious but I'm intrigued

 

You mean a thumb piano, don't you? -- The vibration of the reeds is given to a big resonator, which can move enough air so that the tone becomes loud enough. It's the same with strings: If you hold a guitar string between your hands and someone plucks it, there is only a very very little sound. If you fix the string to a resonator, the sound becomes much louder.

 

 

Sebastian

 

That's the one, thanks, I was working on an inspired British Council funded science teaching project in Sierra Leone in the 60s and we tried to base the curriculum on local culture. We hammered the 'reeds'out of old nails heated in home made charcoal, the nails were from from waste packing cases and the kids used calabashes or coconuts or cigar boxes as sound boxes, just as their parents and elders did . We tuned them to local scales and songs and played them for shows. I reckon we could do a lot worse in music classes in England today to link science and art!! The koras we made use strings from nylon fishing line, plaited to different thicknesses, and motorbike throttle or brake cable. Pythagoras was made practical.

Sadly both colonial and native officials thought we were demeaning the kids and Africa and wanted keyboards and flash equipment to be up to 'Western standards' I made the point that, as a kid in Manchester, we made our own instruments in the 40s and moved on just as we did with Skiffle in the 50s.

 

We even made reeds to repair mouth organs out of brass battery terminals and rivetted them with small nails snipped off.

 

Has anyone made a bog standard concertina this way? Any pictures of basic ethnic squeezeboxes, anyone??

[DDF]

Hi Michael,You may find this interesting.Kinda takes it to a new level.Regards David.

 

 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pkP7KSzgaDw

 

 

 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pkP7KSzgaDw

[michael sam wild]

Thanks to alll for info. I love those Array instruments where you have a range of reeds to pluck I'd love one but can't justify another expensive instrument!