Tuesday Tips #9 - Portable Music

One of the things we try to do while cruising is to attend any drum circles we find. We've gone to the Coconut Grove Drum Circle by the Dinner Key Mooring Field that's held on the Saturday of the full moon each month. We've also gone to the very famous and long-standing Siesta Key Drum Circle, that meets every Sunday evening from about 6:00 pm till dark, year round. The problem with being a drummer is that drums take up a lot of room, and space is at a premium on most cruising boats.

A few months ago I happened on a new idea that Remo came up with. Remo is the manufacturer of many styles of replacement drum heads, and they designed a drum head that could be snapped on any 5 or 6 gallon bucket. Hmmm I don't think I've ever run across a cruising boat that didn't have at least one 5 gallon bucket on hand so this seemed like a really great idea. You can buy them in many styles. They have one that's labeled "Comfort Sound Technology" which is more of a fabric skin and produces a softer, more mellow sound that can be played indoors. Their regular heads come in three tones: a low, medium, and high pitch. We ordered the comfort sound technology head and a low tone head from Lone Star Percussion in Dallas, Texas, only because they had the best price at the time with the shortest delivery. The heads come in perfect cardboard boxes to store them in. We also ordered one of their dedicated Rhythm Pal buckets because it was a better shape than the $3 ones you get at Lowes. The drum produces a very nice tone and has been tested repeatedly at the drum circle. The really nice thing about it is that the head snaps off easily so you can store your sticks inside. We also store our maracas and our tambourine inside when we're not using the drum. Remo's bucket comes with a strap as well, so it's easy to carry - an important benefit because a lot of drum circles are a good walk from wherever you are. So if you've always wanted to have a drum on board or even if you're land locked and you want a very inexpensive way to get into drumming, try it out.