User:Junk percussion

Junk Percussion

Junk percussion is when normal household items are used as instruments by hitting them in a percussive manner. This can include all sorts of things such as pots and pans, kitchen sinks, water buckets and much more. But, it isn't limited to just household items. There have been groups that use gas pipes as a bass giutar kinda sound, and shopping trolleys as Hi Hat sounds and large water butts as basses. Groups such as the "Blue Man Group," "Stomp," and "Weapons Of Sound" to name a few. It's a very clever way of ensuring your instruments don't cost a fortune and it has an eco friendly element to it too! It is also a very inclusive way of teaching many people to play an instrument all at once through workshops. The afore mentioned gas pipes are usually strung up to an old clothes frame and hang in length order ( a bit like pan pipes but on a larger scale) and played using home made paddles which look similar to ping pong bats. I have heard the pipes refferred to as "Batphones" by the band "Weapons Of Sound" before. Apparently this is because ping pong bats were the original beaters used to play the pipes.

The kitchen sink is usually a double drainer which has been bent down on both sides so the draining boards act as a support and the percussionist usually plays the bowl of the sink. It looks similar to an artistic table.

The shopping trolley is tuned by pulling up the child seat bit all the way up and out of the trolley. The edges of the trolley are then bent by applying weight to it and then the seat part can't fall back through. When the trolley is returned upright the percussionist then plays the top where the seat oart now sits landscape on top of the trolley. There are some good videos on "You Tube" demonstrating how this all works.

Also I have seen a "Cone Kit" which is a thin piece of gas pipe with what looks like three small oil containers threaded on to it. Then two smaller gas pipes are inserted vertically each end and put in to the tops of two traffic cones to hold the line of drums up...hense the name "Cone Kit."

I think the main message here is that you don't have to be rich or esepcially trained to play an instrument. Just grab something and see if it makes a half decent sound when you hit it. Fellow Percussion Lover xx Junk percussion (talk) 11:38, 15 October 2008 (UTC)