frame drums - Pete Korpela

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Cooperm
FRAME
DRUMS
By GaryGardner
ll I knewaboutthe awesomenessof Cooperman
handdrumsI hadlearned
throughword of mouth.
Sowhen I wasgiventhe assignmentto actuallyget to playsome
of the handmade-in-the-U.S.A.
drums,I waselated.My findings: craftsmenat Cooperman
have
TheCooperman
pandeiro,
shaker harnessed
the essenceof that
pandeiro,
andGlenVeleztar
historywhileenlistingthe experaretop quality.There'snothing
tiseof guruhanddrummerGlen
more beautifulthan a drum that
Velezto delivera true musician's
playsasgreatas it looks.Madein instrument.Partof the CooperVermont,thesewonderfulinstru- man Artistlnnovations
series,
mentsarethe bestof the best.
the GlenVeleztar is the realdeal.
Cooperman
takesadvantageof
Thetar featuresCooperthe traditions
of solidbent-wood m an' spat ent edi n t e r n atl u n i n g
shellconstruction
andcouplesit
technology,which is, in a word,
with the creativeinnovationsof
inc r edible.
Allens c r e w sa r e s e t
someof the leadinghand-drum deepinto the rim of the shell
artistsin the world.
and take a T=gripAllenwrench
f or t uning.Hav in gt h e t u n i n g
screwsinsetallowsfor a drum
Someexpertshavesuggested
that is not shackledby exterthat the NorthAfrican/Middle
nal har dwar em e c h a n i s mas n d
Easterntar hasbeenaround
m aint ainst he ins t r u m e n t 's
trafor ihousandsof years.The
ditionalappearance.
lhe wood
sxELtS
Srtgs
List pHtce
FiHtS4
f€aiuR€s
dof.tact
acoperman,
c0r-a:
[email protected]*r
72 onuutl a n u a r y 2 0 0 9
d r u m m a g a zin e ,co m
,
'I
''ih.-
E-"
\
\"**'
!4..,
i n l a yi s a l s oq u i t e
ts b e a u t iuf l .
' - si a
::n
P l a y i n gt h e
i
.
"'tit::'.i
G l e nV e l e zt a r w a s
a p l e a s u r eT. h e
t.:.,-.,drum has many
'"'
,
featuresthat
e n h a n c et h e c a p a b i l i t i eo
s f t h e i n s i r u m e n tO
. ne
reallycoolfeatureof the single- yourmusicalsituation,
you can
p l y a s h - w o o d - s h e ldl r u m i s
addor removejintlesto dialin a
t h e u n i q u ec u s h i o n e da r c hg r i p , moreprecisesound.Theprocess
Thegrip helpspreventhand
is quickandeasy,so you can
f a t i g u ea n d m a k e sp l a y i n gm o r e changeai the gigor in the studio.
c o m f o r t a b l eU
. s i n ga s y n t h e t i c A separate
smallerAllenwrench
headallowsfor wonderfultois provided
for thisaction.
i*^.^--;,,^
rl-L
r^-li+.,
iai[y a
tmores.
Thetimbreof the drum is also
-^ln o r m P r e s s t vIe
D e l i c a t ed y n a m i c sa r e c r i s p ,a n d flexiblebecauseof the variable
t h e r e 'sn o p r o b l e mp r - o j e c t i n g t u n i n gc a p a b i l i t yS. h i p p e d
w i th
w i t h p l e n t yo f v o l u m e .
a naturalgoatskinhead,the
pandeirocan alsobe fittedwith
a syntheticRemohead.lf you
Wiihthetraditional
character- don't want to dealwith changing
istics
of theBrazilian
pandeiro
in
weather,whichcan complicate
mind,Cooperman
hascomeup
tuning,I wouldrecommendgo-
withoneheckof aninstrument. ingihesynthetic
route
Witha 10"diameter,
1.875"
depth,
andremovable
six-jingle
setup,
thisdrumistrulyunique.
AIong LosAngeles-based
percussionwiththeinternaituning
system, ist PeteKorpelahascollaborated
thedrumisnotencumbered
by
with Cooperman
to bringanother
uueighty
or bulkyexternal
hard- uniquetwist to the traditional
ware.Theprecision
- cutbearing pandeiro.
By combining
the traplaying
edger-nakes
comfortable. ditionalpandeiroplatinella
style
Theornately
engraved
cupped
with a ganza/shaker
sound,
jingles
areseparated
the voiceof the instrumentcan
bya flat
jinglethatgivesthepandeiro
its
changein new andexcitingways.
traditional
drysound.
Theplatinella,
the dome-shaped
Theabilityto remove
the
brassjingle,worksin conjunction
jingles
andchantethesetupis
with a hybrid"shaker"platinella
a top-notch
added
bonus
feathai is fitted to a baseplaiemade
ture.Depending
ontheneeds
of
of RemoFiberskyn"
baseis attached
the flatFiberskyn
to whatlookslikea wrapthatcovers
jingleisa
the "shaker"
thebase.Inside
quantityof shot,which
nicelybalanced
givesthesmoothganzaeffect.These
newjingleseasilyfrt intothe regular
jingleslotsandcreatea wonderful
mix
Youcanpiaythepandeiro
of colors.
or shakeit horizontally.
traditionally
sysPlus,withtheeasyjingleremoval
tem,youcanadjusttheratioof shaker
jingles
t o t r ad rti o n a l j i n g- l easv e ry I
I
indeed.
I handvf eat ure
I
r
ln Concert
Sittingin a greatbigroomwithtremenreverb,
and
somefriends
dousnatural
drumsthrough
I puttheCooperman
the
ourownprivateccnceri.Playing
6lenVeleztar wasa realjoy.Greatbig
Theshell
toneswithsupersustain.
and.withthecushis wellbala::ced
ionedgrip.playingisquitecomfortable.Thedrunrieaiiycranksout some
and:heRemoRenaissance
volume.
ciear'and
defined
dyheadprociuces
Xneovei'tonemufflingsystem
namics.
doesrvhatitsnameimplies
defrnitely
outthemore
- nobuiid-upwashing
intricaterhvthrrsplayedon thedrum.
has
Ihe shaker
landeiroI received
withfrveshaker
onebrassp:atineila
jingles,
andir reailyaddeda unique
soundto:he group.Verysmooth
justenough
from
shakerpu'ses+vith
i didremove
oneshaker
theplatinei:a.
jingle
jingleandadd€danother
brass
andthatgavea ltttlemoreweightto
thesambafeelwiththethreedrums.
between
thetraditional
Alternatlng
pandeiro
pandeiro
ard sfraker
wasa
funmix.fte crispsoundfromthetrareallydrivesthe flavorof
ditionalcr"'-.rm
,36!3. ringerrollsandslapspopped
outwithnicetonality.ll
l3
Monsoonlainmafter
alivewith
Music
comes
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