Stagg RSM-16 plastic rain stick £15.99
A 16-inch rain stick with 16 chambers (you do the maths) and the requisite amount of little plastic balls to create the effect. Stagg’s instrument is popular with both schools and general musicians looking for more unusual sound effects. The rain stick is also available in an eight-inch version for £10.99.
Rhythm Tech Rhythm Pro tambourine £58.99
Takes advantage of synthetic materials and computer- assisted design and manufacturing to create a thinner, more ergonomic handle, more efficient placement of the jingles, improved balance, a resilient, over-moulded rubber playing edge and an integrated mounting system. And you thought it was just a tombourine. Available with brass or steel jingles.
Tycoon acrylic cajon with fibreglass front plate £395
Tycoon’s acrylic cajon features a solid, transparent acrylic body, a special design that expands the instruments’s bass tones, and a premium fibreglass front plate for added resonance with a wider range of frequency response. On top of this – and the visual appeal – come the usual features one would expect, such as allen key adjustable snare wires and the option of a carry bag.
Toca Freestyle II mechanically tuned djembes From £66
Toca’s new, all-weather, synthetic heads eliminate the stretching, drying and loss of pitch that occurs with natural skin heads. They also aid the extended collar to provide a wider tuning range and a greater consistency of tone. The djembes come in nine, ten, 12 and 14-inch sizes and in a choice of red mask or gold mask finishes.
Glenluce bodhrans From £32 to £99
The Glenluce bodhrans are made in Pakistan from a variety of woods (including rosewood) and all have a single strut and goatskin heads. Some feature a tunable rim, others patterned heads, but all offer amazing value.
fully endorsing and encouraging therapeutic and educational schemes nationwide and worldwide. Stagg is no slouch in the percussion stakes either, producing everything from the simple egg shaker to the funkier rain stick or kokiriko.
BONGO STAR Meinl, of course, has become one of the world’s leading cymbals makers, but has just as rich a tradition for making percussion instruments, wheresoever they might originate. The Bodhran, for example, is an Irish frame drum and was originally used by Irish soldiers as a battle drum. It has gained popularity through the influence of Celtic music and is still mostly used for accompanying traditional dancing. The new 14-inch bodhran from Meinl features an extra deep shell for a rich, full sound and an extra dampening layer on the rim to
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reduce overtones. The traditional cross brace has been removed to enable direct hand pressure on the head for applying contemporary pitch-bending techniques. Meinl also innovates (as with the
bongo cajon) and the new cajon castanets are exactly that. Available in three different sizes, these lightweight castanets are the perfect add-on for any cajon player. They are easily attached to the cajon using an included self-adhesive tape, which sticks on any surface. They are easy to play and their cutting sound adds colour to cajon playing – or any other instrument for that matter. By the time we were all raising our
eyebrows at Marshall Amplification taking on Natal, we had almost forgotten about the shock of Fender buying Kaman Music and with it the Toca and Latin Percussion brands of percussion. It all seems to sit quite comfortably now, of course.
LP has recently launched the Qube, an
interesting take on the humble shaker. At a glance, it looks like a simple wooden box, but looks can be deceiving. The LP Qube is actually a hi tech approach to shaker design, containing as it does an internal-baffle design to create a multitude of shaker effects, depending on which direction the box is moved in. Forward-and-back creates one sound; side-to-side creates another. Spin your wrist to shake it in a circular pattern and you get a double-timed version of both. The Qube is available in two sizes and sounds. The smaller ‘studio’ version has a softer sound, while the larger ‘live’ model produces a sharper attack. Prices start at £18. Toca’s new lightweight hand drums
are a patented hybrid of a doumbek and a djembe. The sculpted shell is made from a light synthetic material that reduces the weight of the drum without
impeding tone, resonance, or durability. Each drum is topped with a fixed, pre- tuned synthetic head, which offers great playing response and eliminates the need for tuning. Nine, ten and 12-inch versions are available in ‘Color Tone’ and ‘Earth Tone’ finishes.
GET RHYTHM JHS has a pretty impressive history in dealing with percussion for the MI trade, and not least thanks to the Rhythm Tech brand. As well as the famous pro tambourine, RT offers a couple of ‘rhythm packs’ containing either the DST tambourine and a five-inch cowbell or the DST and the Moon Block, an indestrucible, synthetic, woodblock sounding instrument. Performance Percussion offers a wide
range of educational percussion instruments for schoolchildren, including the KS1 28 Player Percussion set. This
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