One of My Favorite Things
Gino Robair
One of My Favorite Things
A favorite object of mine is a small, bugle-shaped bicycle horn that I’ve had since I was 6 years old (ca. 1969). It came with my bike, a blue Schwinn Stingray that had a banana seat and sissy bar on the back.
Originally, the horn had a black, rubber bulb to honk it by hand, but in about 3 or 4 years, the base of the bulb rotted away and I was stuck with a honk-less horn on the bike. Eventually, the Stingray was sold when I got too big to ride it, yet for some reason I kept the horn and it ended up in my drum trapcase, with an old shoelace tied to it.
Fast forward to the late 1980s when the Splatter Trio began playing. I used to blow into the horn while playing the kick and hi-hat with my feet, using my right hand as a sort of wah-wah mute. After a few years of this kind of punishment, the reed fell out of the horn and I couldn’t fix it, so then I use it for wah-wah air sounds until...
I discovered that if I place the horn flat against the head of a drum while blowing through it, the air pressure would cause the head to vibrate and create a nice, loud tone. By moving the horn as I blew, I could activate different harmonics of the drumhead. The most exciting use of it is with pedal-tuned timpani.
It’s likely that this horn will outlive me.
Gino Robair is a composer/performer (percussion, electronics, prepared piano), based in Walnut Creek, California.