My Swan Song Chime

One of my last product designs before retiring was the Singin' in the Rain Chime. Diane and I enjoy watching older movies and the Gene Kelly / Debbie Reynolds movie, Singin' in the Rain, is a favorite. That song is quite familiar to people of my generation and hopefully this chime will inspire other generations to …

What Is Music?

On the first day of music history class at the Oberlin Conservatory in 1967, our professor asked, “What is music?”. It was like a Zen kōan, and everybody contemplated it for the rest of the semester. We continued to learn music of the classical European repertoire, but I don’t remember if there was an answer to …

1983, Virgin Islands

St John U.S. Virgin Islands My wife, Diane, and I had been living in the Woodstock, NY, area for over three years in 1983. We had founded our company, Woodstock Chimes, just a few years before, in 1979, and our tuned windchimes were steadily gaining in popularity. We had a two-year-old daughter, Tasa, and another …

Beethoven’s 5th, Eurythmics Style

Here’s something that is fun and amazing but strange. It’s the 1st movement of Beethoven’s 5th symphony performed on body percussion by school children. The conductor is using a piano reduction score (which means that it has been simplified and condensed, making it more easily playable on piano) and when s/he opens to the music, …

Chick Corea – The Passing of a Great Spirit

I was saddened to learn of the recent passing of pianist Chick Corea, a giant in the jazz world and a pioneer in the fusion of jazz, rock and world music. Few musicians can claim to have had such an impact on future generations of artists. Having known the vibraphonist Gary Burton since the early …

Remembering My Good Friend and Colleague Ron Snider

I first met Ron Snider in the 1980s while touring with Steve Reich and Musicians and later while working with NEXUS Percussion. Besides being an amazing musician, a loving husband and father, an expert in world music and inventive designer and builder of musical instruments, Ron was a wonderful human being. His recent untimely passing …

Beardless in Woodstock

In 1967, I was 17 and was about to start college in the fall. My hometown of Franklin Park, Illinois was celebrating its 75th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee on August 3rd of that year. All the men in town were asked to grow a beard for the parade, and, being the good citizen that I was, …

Sounds Good

I’ve known from a young age that good sounds are healing, and I’ve made the study of music and sounds my life’s work. I have had a few “sound” mentors who have helped open my ears. Among them were Pauline Oliveros, John Cage, Harry Partch and Lou Harrison. Pauline taught us “Deep Listening,” whereby you …

Happy New Year – Boogie On!

It’s the beginning of 2020 and I am already reminiscing about 2019. Here’s a short video of the highlights and photos from our production of the Drum Boogie Festival last September in Woodstock, NY. We are very proud of it and hope you’ll enjoy checking it out. It’s a lot of work putting this together, …

From Trampolines to Timpani

Q: What’s the difference between trampolines and timpani? A: You don’t have to take your shoes off when you jump on timpani. Trampolines and timpani have a few things in common. They both have membranes, are fun to play on, and you can impress people of the opposite sex if you are good at either …