Neil and I took a brief diversion after lunch and went over to Groth Music today. Groth is a great because they carry a lot of other stuff than just mainstream gear (ala Guitar Center). Anyway, I picked up a couple of egg shakers, and also one of these:

Spring Drum

It's a "spring drum", a.k.a "thunder drum". I'd never seen these before. The funny part was that I tried to flex my musicologist musicles and tried to convince Neil that it was a "cuica". The next thing I knew, Neil figured out what it really was and started making some cool sounds with it. Next time someone asks me about drum lessons, I'm sending them to Neil

To play it, you just hold the drum (which could also just be called a tube) so that the spring hangs down, and quickly shake the drum. It sounds like friggin thunder, or a gong roll, or something. You can also move your hand over the top to vary the sound.

Very cool stuff. The spring drum is exactly the bizarre type of thing I was looking for. Thanks for driving, Neil!

A "cuica". Not to be confused with a "spring drum".

tags: music drum weird spring