Paper Drums

Paper Drums – a huge sound in a small package. These nestable drums are akin to the frame drums found in many cultures, but rather than the traditional hide skins that are more usual, the Paper Drums have skins of – you guessed it! – paper. But not any old paper.

You might think that paper skins would not last long. Quite the opposite. Since I made these drums in 1991, I have yet to replace a skin .

I usually dont use sticks, more with soft beaters, bundles of twigs, brushes, or the palm of the hand. They have a remarkable palette of sound colours. Each size is about a fourth away from the next in tuning. They sit on a flat plane using turned leg-clamps. They may be joined together at the edges in any configuration that works for the player. (See photo above). I tweak the pitches by placing a candle underneath an individual drum, which also makes an interesting visual spectacle.

Origin

three smiling men
Dave Sawyer Harry and Guy Evans celebrate in Devon 1982

The drums came from an idea while I was working with Dave Sawyer and Guy Evans in Devon in the early 80’s. Dave developed a simple technique of attaching strong paper as a skin to wood without wrinkles and made a square paper drum that made amazing sea sounds. I used this on the first Robot Woman album, for the ‘sea poem’.
I took this basic idea and made a few sets of drums that stacked inside one another – for ease of transport as much as anything.
In essence they sound like large frame drums.  As any world music percussionist will know, there is an almost infinite number of variations within that category alone. In use in the studio they are well matched to acoustic guitar and voice in volume and have deep and sonorous tone reminiscent of tympani when close mic’d.

Techniques

I often play the  paper skins with a paint brush. This produces a bright and refreshingly ‘organic ‘ sound.
There is a double-headed drum which makes the sound of waves and thunder. It has more control of wave motion than the conventional Brazilian circular wave drum.
I chose the pentagonal shape for its partial symmetry because this allows the drums to be mounted together in a stable configuration. The pentagonal shape changes the spread of the fundamental pitches thereby creating sets of harmonics unobtainable with traditional round frame drums. The paper skins also add a certain orchestral quality.
Paper Drums are available for use at my Spring Studio, or if you are really interested, you could have your own made to order.

Paper drums feature on my instrumental – Snowflakes over the Ocean – played by the legendary Greg Sheehan. Some people think its tympani. Set of tymp. $20K. Set of PDs $450! Not bad.

snowflakes over the ocean

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