Drums from Plastic Water Bottles by Philip Pasmanick 04-07 How to procure them: Some are just lying

around. Take em if they sound good. Some bottles will never make good drums. Keep them to trade for better bottles. Some can be gotten from office water coolers, BUT they cost money (around $7.00) so DONT STEAL THEM. Try all the empties and buy the best ones. Sometimes the local bottling plant gives away leaky bottles which would otherwise be recyled. They usually have dozens or hundreds to choose from, so you can select the ones that sound best and you can also get higher and lower tone bottles. I once did this with some 200 bottles and found about 25 worth keeping for our carnaval contingent. Why use them: Five gallon water bottles are light (easy to carry and manage), durable (almost impossible to break or scratch, fairly easy to get, and small (easier to store a class set). Some bottles have a convienient handle incporportated into the design. I have never used the three gallon bottles but some sound great. Its the ultimate in recyling to reuse a hunk of plastic in a new way. Make sure to recylce the bottles when they will no longer be used as drums. They can produce a good tone and muff; slaps are OK, bass harder to produce. They are not too loud, a blessing for indoor use. They arent much use outside, for example in a Carnaval parade. They dont work with sticks. Small children (grades 2-4) find them about the right height to play sitting in small chairs. How to modify them They can be decorated in many ways (see separate sheet). At this point in my career I usually do nothing more than add a few strps of cloth that can be removed when its time to return them to the factory for reuse or recylcling. IF you need to saw off the spout for some reason (say to fit in a certain space) that is easily accomplished with a hacksaw, but sand the hole afterwards. This does not seem to affect the tone, but it looks funny. Making the hole too big just weakerns the bottle. Its best to leave em alone.,
rhythm patterns

A regular wire coat hanger can be straightend out and applied under one of the bottles ribs to make a place to attach a carrying strap or rope.

The strap allows the user to carry it under the left arm and play with the right hand for Cuban bomb and Braziian surdo parts. The rope allows older, taller players to play it like a conga, between the legs, holding the drum off the floor supported by the rope or strap (something like a bat drum strap , but its still played vertically, like a conga). This strategy make sthe drum nice and stable and allows it to resonate freely. Ive never found a way to tune the bottles higher or lower. The trick is to find bottrles that naturally have different tones.

Using two bottles When you find two good bottles with tones about a 4th or 5th apart, mark them and set them aside, You can make a set of boncongas. Youll need: Two chunks of dense foam rubber about 12x12x4 (inches). I got mine from recycled packing materials. Its nice to cover them or put them in nylon cases that are the right size. Two or three nylon straps at least 66 long to strap the bottles together. I bound mine in a sporting goods store in the camping section; they are sold to strap equipment to backbacks and have good buckles that cinch down tight. I had to use two of these to make one strap. Some stores sell the sta[[ing by the yard and the plastic hardware separately. Bungie cords work too but they are dangerous. Three straps to wear the bottles: a waist belt and two shoulder straps. I think mine are all detachable shoulder straps from old luggage. Two wire coat hangers to make attachment points for the waist and shoulder straps (optional). First attach the wires and create a 1.5 loop. Then place one foam square between the bottles and strap them together. That will keep them from touching and it puts tension on the straps to keep then snug. Next place the second foam square under the straps so it goes between the drums and your belly. Make sure you have set it up so that the lower pitched drum is on your dominant side (right for most people). Attach the three carrying staps. The shoulder straps will go like suspenders: parellel in front, crossed in the back. Youll figure it out. Experiment with the length of the straps so that the height of the drums puts them in corrrect playing position or your wont be able to play well or for long. Tighten everything down before you play. I forgot once and the thing fell apart on stage! You can see that misphap on my site: http://www.deciman.blogspot.com.

A third grade rhythm session. Note: drum third from the left was painted black on the inside and has a rhythm pattern in green and red sticky dots applied to the rim.

Performing with the boncongas. The mics should be closer and the bass turned up .