Instrument development
The instruments used by the percussion player is not only the oldest, also the youngest compare to the tradition and development of violin and piano. Therefore Ramon likes to develop instruments himself but also with manufacturers of percussion instruments and sticks / mallets.
4-octave vibraphone - collaboration with Adams Percussion
For the album recording of Canto Ostinato by Simeon ten Holt with Mallet Collective there was a need to have extra notes available at the vibraphone. Besides the three octaves available there was a need to extend both the top- and the bottom register. Through that extension it was possible to play all the notes written for this piece. Adams built the instrument at first and has it now for sale at their shop.
Just intonation vibraphone - collaboration with Adams Percussion
As a percussionist working with a lot of different instruments I have often found myself investigating possibilities to alter sounds. In the mallet percussion specially there are not many things one can do besides changing mallets and preparing a little bit on the instrument. But if you want to alter tunings, some collaboration is needed. With TEMKO we got into listening a lot of Terry Riley’s music, where we found orselves intrigued by his Shri Camel recording, which was never performed live. Terry did not play that piece since he took a lot of time altering tunings on the old synthesizers. When Aart, Fred and me got into discussion about tuning systems we took some time reading up on various articles and found a tuning which possibly would be the one Terry used: the Just intonation. Basically that is a baroque way of tuning perfect fifths. If you do that some notes sound really out of tune, and others as perfect as it can get. By writing down some structures and notes form the Shri Camel record by ear we discovered that the piece was written in a rather low C major tuning. Then I was interested in modifying the vibraphone, since this piece would benefit a lot from resonant notes and the use of a pedal. When I spoke with Frans Swinkels and Albert Straten from Adams Musical Instruments they were very supportive and enthusiast. And they encouraged me to figure out the tuning in herz or cents. But Frans explained me in the mean time that tuning keyboards down is way harder then tuning them up. When I got together with Aart, speaking about guitar frets and strings, we figured the ensemble would benefit a lot if we would play it in a rather high B tonality instead of C. Then I send through the tuning system and two weeks later I received a phone call and tested the instrument at the Adams factory in Ittervoort. A brand new altered Adams Alpha design was ready in Just Intonation! Listen to our first rehearsal with this instrument.
Nocturnal blue tiles
Made by Aart Strootman, for Ramon & TEMKO's Lunar project Working with a composer/instrument builder is the best thing a percussionist can do. Their endless imagination in sound, texture and basic musical parameters like decay, register and attack can truly enhance the possibilities in a piece. In TEMKO I have the joy to work often and very close with Aart Strootman. In the band when I play percussion the short, dry attacks are mostly found in rimshot, metal and wooden materials – in order to hear the complex textures of the rhythms we love to perform. Sometimes the sound just isn’t 100% what we are looking for on drums or already existing percussion and therefore Aart cut small rest pieces of flamed maple he still had in his shed from a guitar project. He stained them blue and used shellac to make them durable.
Listen to the first Lunar where the tiles are used.
New marimba bars in 440hz tuning
Made by Adams Percussion In 2010 Ramon had a project with Brisk recorder quartet. They are always performing on recorders in 415 tuning. For the project it was an extra difficulty to have tuning work with them while playing most pieces on the five octave marimba. Therefore we came up with a solution with Adams Percussion. We found out that transposed parts and a marimba with a 440hz keyboard, things could work. Here you can listen to the album they made: Dutch Diversity.
Or buy it at the shop of Brisk.