Made a Palito today! - ...or bamboo crafts at home

[Chupacabra]

Re: The sticks that Gallichio uses for the cata.
I just bought a set of similar sticks (Vic Firth "Rute" for those who must know) and tried them out on my own with the krin and cata and I'm pretty impressed. I can definitely see a time and place where they can be used, like when I'm practising in my apartment! I'm glad I have them now. I know for the next time that I can go and make these very easily. Get some nice hardwood dowel from a decent woodworker's supply store, some heat-shrink tubing and maybe a little decorative bling and away I go! The Vic Firth sticks are pretty fancy-shmancy!
I'm just wondering, where else are they used in percussion? Cymbals, blocks, timbales, wherever you damn well feel like?

[Gallichio]

Chupacabra,
The check is in the mail. Please let me know when you receive it. Thank you again for making the Palito for me. I used it for about an hour yesterday and really enjoyed it.

"I'm just wondering, where else are they used in percussion? Cymbals, blocks, timbales, wherever you damn well feel like?"

You got it. Wherever.

Your only limited by your imagination. One easy way to change the sound of any percussion instruments is to use various sticks, mallets or a bow. Another resion I like the Calato Regal Tip Fan Thai sticks is at the bottom end has a rubber like cap and that also gives another nice sound when used.

I was looking at the Palito yesterday and thinking that you could cut long notches on the back and use it as a Guiro. You can hold it with the fingers in the sound holes. this would double the instruments use.
Thanks again



Edited By Gallichio on 1203252239

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[Chupacabra]

Hmmm... a "guaguiro"? Or maybe a "guigua"?

At our practise yesterday we were wondering if the palito was the only pattern played in rumba and if the cata is used in more than just rumba. Can the palito be played using a bell?

Many more questions to follow...!

BTW, the last remaining cata that I had to give away just went to a good home this afternoon... sniff! I'll miss the little guy!

[bongosnotbombs]

There is an instrument called a cua played in bomba from PR. It is kind of like two guaguas together.
I don't know much about bomba though...

There are a lot of different palito patterns, almost one for each rhythm. There are palito patterns for folkloric rhythms that aren't officially rumba (Colombia, Yambu, Guaguanco), like Makuta for example.

[Chupacabra]

Are they still variations of the basic rumba clave?
Come to think of it, I might just have a recording of one of the workshops I went to about a year ago and we were shown the palito pattern for Yambu. I'm going to see if I can find it and answer my own question!
I believe I'll be learning more about this once my copies of "Percusions Afro-Cubanos" V.1 and V.2 by Adrian Coburg arrives!

.... Yes, I just answered my own question. At the workshop we had with Los Muñequitos de Matanzas we learned the basic idea of Yambu and the clave and palito, which we were playing on krin. I didn't know what a cata was at the time, or palito!



Edited By Chupacabra on 1203305368

[bongosnotbombs]

Chupacabra,
You've got to give a thorough review of Adrain Coburg's books. I've been thinking about getting those myself, and there really is not much info on them on this forum.
You'd be doing us all a big service.

As far as palito patterns, in my opinion the guaguanco and yambu patterns are a little similar, mainly the guaguanco is like a busier version of the yambu pattern. The one I learned for Makuta is very different. I've also see patterns played which are basically either playing clave or the bembe bell with one one hand and the pulse with the other.
There's one or two more I've heard. I don't how many palito patterns there are. It would be interesting to be able to see all the patterns on one page.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1203315888

[Gallichio]

I have found some Palito patterns in Mel Bays Afro Cuban Rhythms Vol 1 and 2 by Trevor Salloum. He shows very different patterns for the Guaguanco and Yambu
( Matanzas ) These are small resonable priced books only about 16 pages each. Nice Afro-Cuban rhythms.

[bongosnotbombs]

Are they still variations of the basic rumba clave?

The Makuta one sure isn't, but Makuta the way I've learned is not played to clave, it's played to a bell pattern.
I've learnt 2 variations of the Makuta palito.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1203390083

[Chupacabra]

To give you a sneak peak at the book you can check his website out http://www.iyalodde.ch/

One thing I can tell you right now based on what I've had a chance to play around with from my friends copy is this: For someone like myself who is ready to move up a notch as far as challenge goes this is a good book to have. It is in musical notation which scared me away at first, but notation for percussion is really not that hard. I look at this as part of "moving up a notch". For now, I have enough on my plate just learning some of the basics of the folkloric styles, and after a bit over a year of learning I realize that it will take several more years to scratch the surface and the first volume will get me in that direction. More experienced players will probably have a different take on it and I would be interested to hear their perspective.
Finding the recording "Jesus Perez: In Memoriam/Homenaje" would be a real bonus!

[epicous]

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[Chupacabra]

There wasn't much to go on in the video because it was a basic demonstration but from what I could tell, the playing technique seems closer to the West African log drum known as "krin" or "kirin" and like many other instruments (cata/guagua) , by many other names depending on where you live.
I had a quick look to see if I could find any other video or audio and so far haven't found anything. I'd be interested to hear a bit more...



Edited By Chupacabra on 1204266156

[epicous]

Hello Chupacabra. I'm a newbie in music.
This instrument is not much popular now, but there is a revival. It can be searched under these terms:

teponaztle-teponaztli-teponaztl

teponastle-teponastli-teponastl

teponaxtle-teponaxtli-teponaxtl

[Congadelica]

Interesting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKpHYU9SH7M

[bongosnotbombs]

Made a trip to the bamboo farm this weekend.

[Chupacabra]

That there is some pretty nice bamboo! Whatcha gonna make with that?