I thought people might like to see this little vid I made of the home-made musical instruments I use with young children in kindergartens, schools and child care centres here in Perth, Western Australia. I don't do performances with the instruments, I do hands-on programs where the kids get to explore and play all the instruments through free and structured play.

Most of the instruments are made from junk and recycled materials and they are designed to be very easy to play, to be very safe, and to be almost unbreakable, since 5 year olds are the single most destructive force known to humankind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWXrN3nIZyI

Shameless plug: if you like what you see feel free to head over to http://www.facebook.com/ChildsPlayMusicPerth and hit that Like button

Alec.

Neat !! Thanks for sharing.
What material do you use of the drums ? Is it a special material made for that ?

Awesome!

Would love to see a whole orchestra playing those...

Do you mean the drum skins? If so, they are standard drum skins, just like you would use on a rock drum kit. Nothing else sounds as good or lasts as long.

I use "Encore by Remo" skins (Remo's budget range) because they have the old-style rolled metal rim, not the new-style "U" channel rim. The rolled rim is much smoother which makes getting the skin tight enough easier, since there's less friction. They are held on with 2.5mm nylon blind cord (not polyester - it breaks), and I punch holes around the circumference of the drum skin with a leather punch.

The drum shells range from 200 litre plastic barrels, to 40kg granulated pool chlorine containers, to various sizes of PVC pipe. Whatever you use the drum shell must be very strong and rigid; no point trying to use a light plastic bucket or a plastic garbage bin - they will just fold up under the tension. Also, if you are using recycled containers for your drum shell you need to make sure that you know what has been in them (safety - no nasty chemicals like pesticides) and that they are thoroughly clean.

There is more info about the drums and how I make them on my Facebook Page. Go to my Photo Album http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 244&type=3 , click on the picture of the three drums and you will find more info both in the picture and in the discussion below it.

Alec.

cool stuff. Reminds me of a local marimba band.