I’m SOOOO excited about these two new instruments from Black Swamp Percussion!
There has long been a void in the tambourine market for an instrument specifically for more delicate playing that responds immediately, is articulate, yet still has the same tonal characteristics as what most of us think of as a “normal" tambourine. When I approached owner Eric Sooy about this, not only did he listen, but he let me in on the design process! The end result is an instrument with a shallower, lighter shell than the SoundArt models, smaller jingles made from the same great-sounding BSP alloys, and uniformly-sized jingle slots.
One thing I discovered while working with a prototype is that jingle slots with different widths, while greatly assisting in smoothing out your shake roll, cause the jingles to hit the tops of the slots at different times once you reach a certain dynamic (see video), resulting in a wetter, less articulate sound. The uniform slots keep the sound clear throughout the dynamic range, which for these instruments peaks at around mf.
One model is all Chromium 25 jingles and is the driest of the two. The other – my favorite! – is Chromium 25 with a single row of German Silver on top. The German Silver activates a tiny bit faster at the softest dynamics and fills out the spectrum of sound gorgeously. You will now no longer have to spend hours on eBay looking for that perfect vintage solution for Carmen, Peter Grimes and Arabian Dance, or settle for the $15 cheapo online that sounds like a Fisher Price toy when it’s played above pp!!!
If you are going to PASIC 2017, be sure to visit the Black Swamp Percussion booth to check them out! THANK YOU Black Swamp Percussion!!!