Can musicians make music without a musical instruments?
One of the oldest American musical traditions involves musicians doing exactly that. Now, some might not say it's strictly a musical tradition, but it certainly involves music--and dance and other kinds of performance.
It originated in Charleston, South Carolina. Actually, Kongo slaves brought a dance called the Juba from their native land. The Juba involves stomping as well as patting and drumming the arms, legs, chest and other parts of the body. Later, lyrics were added to it.
If any of this sounds familiar, you've seen what's commonly called the "Hambone." Slaves weren't allowed to have rhythm instruments because masters believed secret codes were embedded in the drumming. So, the "Hambone" and related music and dances became one of the primary means of expression for slaves--and for African Americans after the so-called Emancipation.
I like to think of Juba or Hambone as a precursor to hip-hop.
Anyway, it seems that the idea of making music without instruments--or, at least, what most people would think of as instruments--hasn't died. And, as with the slaves, one particular contemporary performer felt the need to make music without guitars, keyboards, saxophones or the like.
Percussionist Reynaliz Herrera probably isn't the first musician to ride a bicycle to street performances. She, however, grew frustrated with the limits to what she could carry on two wheels. So, the Braintree (Don't you just love that name?), Massachusetts wondered, "What if I drum on my bike?"
If you know anything about her musicianship, the question doesn't sound so far-fetched. Ever since she came from her native Mexico to study music in Canada and, later, Boston, she has wanted to go beyond traditional theories of classical music, she says.
While she cites Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and classical music as her main influences, she says that playing on a bicycle is a return to her own roots. As a child, she experimented by banging on pots and pans, and created a band with buckets of water in her yard. That led her to the realization that "everything can create a sound" and that her job is to find out "the qualities of sounds and which sound good together."
What's interesting is how the bicycle is composed of parts that create a range of tones, from high to low, that resemble the parts of a drum ensemble. For example, she explains, the chainwheel can sound like a bell or snare drum, the freewheel like a high hat and the tire like a kick drum. Technically, playing a bicycle, she says, is most like playing a xylophone because both require a musician to strike closely-spaced parts spread over a wide area.
One of the oldest American musical traditions involves musicians doing exactly that. Now, some might not say it's strictly a musical tradition, but it certainly involves music--and dance and other kinds of performance.
It originated in Charleston, South Carolina. Actually, Kongo slaves brought a dance called the Juba from their native land. The Juba involves stomping as well as patting and drumming the arms, legs, chest and other parts of the body. Later, lyrics were added to it.
If any of this sounds familiar, you've seen what's commonly called the "Hambone." Slaves weren't allowed to have rhythm instruments because masters believed secret codes were embedded in the drumming. So, the "Hambone" and related music and dances became one of the primary means of expression for slaves--and for African Americans after the so-called Emancipation.
I like to think of Juba or Hambone as a precursor to hip-hop.
Anyway, it seems that the idea of making music without instruments--or, at least, what most people would think of as instruments--hasn't died. And, as with the slaves, one particular contemporary performer felt the need to make music without guitars, keyboards, saxophones or the like.
Percussionist Reynaliz Herrera probably isn't the first musician to ride a bicycle to street performances. She, however, grew frustrated with the limits to what she could carry on two wheels. So, the Braintree (Don't you just love that name?), Massachusetts wondered, "What if I drum on my bike?"
If you know anything about her musicianship, the question doesn't sound so far-fetched. Ever since she came from her native Mexico to study music in Canada and, later, Boston, she has wanted to go beyond traditional theories of classical music, she says.
While she cites Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and classical music as her main influences, she says that playing on a bicycle is a return to her own roots. As a child, she experimented by banging on pots and pans, and created a band with buckets of water in her yard. That led her to the realization that "everything can create a sound" and that her job is to find out "the qualities of sounds and which sound good together."
What's interesting is how the bicycle is composed of parts that create a range of tones, from high to low, that resemble the parts of a drum ensemble. For example, she explains, the chainwheel can sound like a bell or snare drum, the freewheel like a high hat and the tire like a kick drum. Technically, playing a bicycle, she says, is most like playing a xylophone because both require a musician to strike closely-spaced parts spread over a wide area.
