Cog
Tony Buck
Cog
There are many small objects, little instruments, and various pieces of detritus that end up in an improvising musician’s toolbox; there are numerous reasons why and how they ended up there, and why they remain or get left behind. Over the years, many such items have come and gone; some to return at a later date and some to be left in the draw of a past period of one’s music making. Relationships develop, change, and evolve, just like the music itself.
For me, some devices also become mainstays—a relied upon accomplice in many of the situations, approaches, and ways of making sound. One such object for me is an old motorcycle gear cog I bought at a Berlin flea market stall some 15 or 20 years ago. This humble piece was bought as a set of three, initially for their resonance, their bell-like pitch when struck. Within this set, there were three distinct pitches of a surprisingly pure tone. They were also extremely inexpensive. After a short time, it became apparent to me that these objects were capable of many other sound-creating and manipulating possibilities. Quite slowly, these other possibilities revealed themselves, one consequence of which was to choose only one, the largest of the three, to remain in my arsenal of equipment.
I found this cog could be used as an extremely good, but instantly removable and manipulatable, dampener for a drum. It could be ground upon or around a rim to produce an impressive, industrial-like guiro sound. I could elicit impressive screeching sounds by scraping it with sticks and other objects. It could spin on drumheads, drawing out a warm and admirable whirling sound. It could provide a very useful, uneven surface over which to sweep a brush or stick, making it possible to set up strange and machine-like sequences of snaps, cracks, and pops.
Its edge could be used with a wire brush to create a reasonable simulation of an electronic-like crackle... and still, I can extract the original, pure, bell-like pitch from it by striking it with a mallet. For me, one of the main reasons an object is useful as a musical tool is its versatility, flexibility, and its transformative possibilities; the prospect of finding new uses for the familiar; the potential of finding inspiration as the music unfolds anew, in real time, in each performance. This cog, then, conforms to all these requirements, and then some! I’m still finding new uses for it to this day.
From a more pragmatic, less aesthetic, perspective, as a percus- sionist, with many small and large instruments and devices to travel with, unfortunately one of the deciding factors that often influences what comes and goes is the very real fact that everything adds up, in weight and space, and before every trip some hard decisions have to be made. Versatility and multiple functionality, then, are therefore very important practical aspects to be considered. Again, the motor- cycle-gear-cog fits the bill wonderfully. (It’s also relatively light... did I mention that?).
It still remains in my travelling kit to this day, and although it is probably the main reason I can’t travel with my equipment as hand luggage (it looks a bit like a saw blade, to be honest), it still earns its place as a flexible and an essential piece of gear.
Tony Buck is a composer/performer (percussion, drums, guitar) and video artist, based in Berlin.