Adding to the Decoration

Now that the gourd is out of the closet, it needed more leaves so the process of added them is begun. The gourd looks fairly full now, but the empty space between the existing leaves will be filled with additional leaves.

Making the Gourd Instrument

One of the instruments that can be made from a gourd is a ukelele. A simple instrument, the belly is made from the rounded part of the gourd with a covering and sound hole. A neck for the strings are attached. This is a ukelele begun some time ago and only now retrieved from the closet to finish...

This was the original kettle gourd.

Once but in half and gutted, the face of
a broken mandolin was glued to it.

Screws and threads from another
instruments will be attached to
a tomato stake for a neck.

The gourd belly is being
decorated with vines
and leaves.

Major Barrier

Josh Kaufman suggests the "major barrier to learning anything is not intellectual, it is emotional. We're scared. Feeling stupid doesn't feel good and in the beginning of learning anything new we feel really stupid."

This blogger has been taking stabs at gourd musical instruments and storytelling for a while as is chronicled by Gourds & Papercutting and more loosely about words in BloggedyBlogBlog and song parodies in Crackled Apples.  Dancing around words, songs, and gourds are coming together with the new information that 20 hours [only about 45 minutes a day, for about a month] is all it would take to learn a new skill of playing and singing!

"...major barrier to learning anything is not intellectual, it is emotional."

Learning Something in 20 Days

Josh Kaufman explains in his TEDTalk that any skill can be learned in 20 days...given about an hour a day. The way he describes the process is that yes, there is a piece of research that says it takes 10,000 hours to learn a skill but that is to become an expert. Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, originator of the 10,000 concept, studied what it takes to get to the top of competitive fields like music, chess, athletics. The very top competitors put in about 10,000 hours. Malcom Gladwell wrote a book that included the Erisson information. Then over time the information watered down from 10,000 to become an expert in an narrowly measured  ultra competitive field to 10,000 to become good at something. VERY different meanings indeed! 

However, for casual learning for self-knowledge without the competition, how long does it take to get to a place of ok-ness? Mr. Kaufman says 20 hours and proves it by playing his ukelele at the end of his TEDTalk!  "Twenty hours of focused, deliberate practice..."

Combining Other Disciplines

Plumbing can be combined with gourds to make instruments. The John Kovak book, PVC Instruments and How to Play Them, instruments can span all sorts of materials. Can PVC be combined with gourds?  Has that been done? How long would it take to make an instrument and learn how to play it?  

Gourd Banjo Music

Putting leather across the opened side of a gourd, adding a long piece of word for a throat with strings, and music can be played. Any experience with a guitar or ukelele can help a person jump right into a gourdy musical experience. Adam Hurt below is a master at his bottleneck gourd banjo but geez! how can a person get to playing a gourd instrument without spending the amount of time he obviously did to get this good?  Being an expert is not always preferred. Just being able to strung out a tune on the back patio is enough for a casual afternoon, right?

Playing a Gourd Shekere

A shekere is a type of gourd drum. Hasan Bakr explains the first drums were gourds and used in celebration of births, ceremonies, and to accompany work in the fields.  The gourd is held in the palm of one hand while the other hand holds the neck..."like holding a baby". Striking the palm against the bottom makes the base sound, the beads make the higher notes.

Steve Kroon also says a relaxed hold with balance is vital. In fact, the balance is what allows the playing to happen. The better the grip, the more relaxed the grip, the tighter the sound -- "holding it, not grasping it". Thump the bottom first...  Begin by playing slow until the rhythm and pattern can be recognized and repeated.

Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra

A notable group of musicians who travel and espouse the gourd word is the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra. As the website says. "A band of musicians with dirt under their fingernails--they put the "cult" back into culture, and "culture" back into agriculture."

Kundalini Calabash (mp3 sample)

Examples of Gourd Music

There already exists examples of gourd music in the world. Historically, gourds have been items of utility such as bowls, grain carriers, and water dippers. Most people have seen gourd birdhouses. Musical instruments should also included in the list. In fact, The Gourd Reserve chronicles several musicians playing their gourd instruments. The YouTube videos show a variety of musical options being played by the person who made the instrument.

YouTube was not available to people thousands of year ago, but gourd musical instruments based on historical models have been reviewed in the book Making Gourd Musical Instruments, published by Sterling Publishing. From many cultures, these instruments span the musical array from wind to string to percussion.

Welcome!

Welcome to Singing Gourd Songs! This is the place to explore gourd happenings in the musical world. Like to sing? Like to write songs? This may be the place for musically adventuresome people. Let beat a drum of enthusiasm for gourd music! This gourd drum was made in a class at the Virginia Gourd Festival in 2015. So far, there are no instruments at this year's festival, but late classes have been known to happen!