Ahhh… to recall the warmth and fun when it’s soooo cold outside! Here are links to our Flickr pics from 2014. Click on the picks to take you to the Flickr album!
MusiCamp 2014 in Review
Blues Week 2014
Roots Week 2014
Composition and Song Week 2014
This slightly edited video is from our 2013 week-end performance of the children-composed rhythm “Timbaraba.”
Although it is difficult to see, at the back left are 3 double headed drums known as dunun. The dunun play a complex interlocking rhythm upon which the djembes play another rhythm or solo.
NOTE: Because the speakers of computers and portable devices aren’t designed to capture the bass, to hear the dunun pattern you need to listen to this video with headphones or good speakers.
As I mentioned in previous posts, MusiCamp was considering the possibility of campers making washtub basses as well as diddley bos this summer. So, this past Victoria Day my partner and I attempted to make a washtub bass.
For those of you who don’t know, a washtub bass is a one-stringed bass made up of a stick, a string, and an overturned washtub as the resonator (or better understood as what amplifies the sound of the plucked string).
Tin olive oil container on left and 5 gallon plastic bucket on right.
We tried two different containers (the resonator of the instrument), two different strings, and a variety of playing techniques. While we quickly resolved what physical equipment (resonator and string) worked best, the playing techniques is clearly a work in progress ;) .
One container was a food-industry size oil container. It was metal and so I figured it would resonate more like a traditional washtub than the other alternative resonator, the 5 gallon plastic bucket. But the plastic bucket had a way fuller sound and the one we much preferred.
The two strings we tried was a cotton rope and a plastic weed-wacker line. We liked the rope more but it busted before we even got a chance to properly savour the sound. Luckily, the sound of the weed-waker line wasn’t dramatically different from the rope.
The construction simply involved taking a rake or broom handle, indenting a groove on one end and drilling a hole in the other. We also drilled a whole in the middle of the container/resonator. We then tied the one end of the weed-waker line to the container/resonator and the other end to the stick (which involved wrapping it around the stick a number of times and then securing it with duck-taped). Then we inserted the groove/indent on the rim of the bucket, the string becomes taught, and we started to twang away.
I had assumed that playing different pitches/notes involved moving the stick back and forth; however, this seemed very difficult to keep in tune -as you can see in the youtube video below.
The playing technique that I soon adopted involved placing the stick a little closer to the centre of the bucket and using my fingers (usually just the index finger or the whole hand) to pitch the notes as well as moving the stick.
So, while I still need to work on the bass playing technique and possibly experiment with the instrument design to help secure the stick a little more (and thereby the intonation of the pitches/notes I play!) it is quite a simple thing to make and it makes a great bass sound!
Final say on the wash tub bass at MusiCamp? It’s definitely going to happen. I.e., if campers want to make one, it is very possible!
Diddley bos are the precursor to the slide guitar and arguably the first blues instrument. We had intended to make these instruments only during Blues summer camp session but the kids loved them so much we made them every week! Not only that, we incorporated them into the music making of each week – quite a satisfying experience!
Click the picture below to view larger gallery of pics and video.
Surprisingly, I got the pics of the DIDDLEY BOs up earlier than I thought. Enjoy! By the way, exploring the acoustic properties of these instruments, we played with different resonators (a bottle for the instructor versus different size tins for campers), using a wooden block as a bridge or not, as well as the placement of the resonator. As you can see, campers were spectacularly creative in how they painted their diddley bos as well!
The video below (click the picture) demonstrates a MusiCamp homemade diddley bo, which is the precursor to the slide guitar and arguably the first blues instrument.
In a few days (or maybe a few weeks ; ) ), I’ll post the whole lot of diddley bos campers made at MusiCamp in its inaugural Blues Week!
click on the picture to hear what a didley bo sounds like
One of the things we’ll be looking at every week are soundwalks and soundscape compositions. But what are these? Before I tell you more about these things, have a listen to the following soundscape composition called “City Symphony” from the movie August Rush – a film about a young orphaned prodigy who uses his musical gifts to find his biological parents.
Soundwalks are exactly what they sound like: walks that explore sound. You can explore the sounds everywhere – whether it’s deep in the forest of the Toronto Ravine system or in the commercial semi-industrial space behind Dufferin Mall. But what’s really interesting about sound walks is how much more you are able to see when you take the time to listen. Often soundwalks can even uncover hidden stories about a place or a neighbourhood…
“A soundscape is any collection of sounds, almost like a painting is a collection of visual attractions,” says internationally renown Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. “When you listen carefully to the soundscape it becomes quite miraculous.”
There are soundscapes that occur organically from our natural or urban environments – that’s what the composer R. Murray Schafer is talking about above. And then there are composed soundscapes.
This piece of art is actually the musical score written by world-renown Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. The instrumentation involves an orchestra, 7 singers, and electronic sounds.
Soundscape compositions are compositions that rely less on what we usually expect from music, like a regularly repeated melody and/or rhythm. Instead, it explores sounds and silence, and is more directly inspired by a specific idea and/or emotion. Often this results in a musical piece that boarders on theatre or performance art. You can even see from the picture (which is an actual score by the composer R. Murray Schafer) how the score of a soundscape composition defies conventions and looks more like a piece of art than the typical musical notation.
As mentioned, at MusiCamp, our soundwalks will work like a musical treasure hunt and campers will be:
Back at the studio, campers will:
In case you want to meet Andrea in person and hear her in some of her eclectic musical projects, there are a number of opportunities – from Traditional Georgian polyphony, to solo jazz (voice and guitar), to more contemporary jazz-oriented improvisation. All events are free unless otherwise noted.
It’s festival time at Dewson Public School and I’ll be providing the music for the Cake Walk game — Ooooo what fun! And such awesome cakes to be won.
The womens’ Kosa Kolektiv aims to revitalize and reinterpret the entire web of peasant folklore in an urban context. In this case, the Kosa Kolektiv and Lemon Bucket Orchestra are providing the traditional unamplified entertainment for a high brow fundraiser for HUHTC, A Project of Children of Chernobyl Canadian Fund. More info can be read here http://www.huhtc.ca/houseminglefundraiser.htm.
Andrea Kuzmich performs solo voice and guitar. 132 Robinson Street (Markham Road, 2 lights north of Hwy 7 on Robinson street)
Produced by Clay and Paper Theatre, Day of Delight: A Toronto celebration of Love, Courtship and Desire is a inter-disciplinary mixed media event in Dufferin Grove park. Broulala, is an a cappella collective improvising ensemble that features 4-6 singers. At Day of Delight Broulala will metaphorically extend the roots of jazz and wander the parklands of Dufferin Grove to create intimate spaces of vocal improvisation based on reinterpretations of standard love songs.
Darbazi is a 10-member chorus that sings the ancient and haunting harmonies of Caucasus Georgia http://www.Darbazi.com. For more information on the Waterfront Festival, visit http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/summer/waterfrontfestival/
Andrea Kuzmich performs solo voice and guitar at Canoe Landing Park (N or Lakeshore, E of Bathurst) http://www.my-market.ca/cityplace.html.
.
During the West African Drumming Week, we’ll be exploring the Mande musical tradition – more of which can be read (and seen in videos) just below this introductory section on the history of Mande drumming.
In 1235, the Mande warrior king named Sunjata Keita rose to power and united many kingdoms in West Africa to establish the Mande empire and what would be a 200-year golden age of peace and prosperity in the region.
Musicians at this time were more than just musicians. They were highly valued as negotiators, praise singers and historians. This history and its musical tradition lives on in a large part of west African countries, including Mali, Guinea, Gambia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Guinea Bissau as well as parts of Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.
By the way, the story of Sunjata Keita is incredible since he was born a cripple and was exiled from his home because of this. Yet, he not only overcame his disabilities but established the prosperous Mande empire. More youth-oriented information can be read here: http://www.africa-junior.com/en/youth/knowledges/sundiata-keita.html.
.
Guest host AnnA Melnikoff , with her expertise in the Mande drumming tradition, will guide us through this week’s activities. She’ll be bringing her exquisite drums which include djembes and a set of 3 bass drums called dunun. Each dunun has its own pattern which overlap with one another to form a melody upon which djembes can solo. In this week, you’ll get a chance to learn the various dunun patterns, djembe accompaniment patterns as well as a group djembe solo.
Focusing on rhythms that accompany rights of passage, participants will also build masks and explore the meaning of the drums and the rhythms from the very ancient Mande tradition.
Check out the videos below to get a sense of what we’ll be playing in the West African Drumming Week!
SOUNDS OF MANDE DRUMMING
The 3 drummers standing are playing the dunun – the smallest drum is called the kenkeni, the middle drum is called the sangban and the largest drum is the dundunba. The guys sitting are playing 2 different accompaniment patterns on djembes.
THE SOUND OF THE DJEMBE
This one the drum instructor is demonstrating the 3 different tones on the djembe – tone, slap and bass, or in French “ton,” “claque,” and “bas” . By the way, French is spoken in many West African countries.
THE SOUND OF THE DUNUN
This video starts with a pattern on the middle dunun drum known as the sangban. Then the kenkeni (the smallest drum) is introduced. Note it is the simplest of all the 3 drum patterns but has the most important role of keeping the beat steady. Finally the bass drum, the dundunba, is introduced.
.
.
MusiCamp 