Beethoven and the Drums

 

Collage from Ludwig's catalog and Pixabay

[Not too many readers will identify with the content in this blogpost, but I'm going to push it through anyway since it chronicles my earliest adventures in music and 'equipment' of some sorts.  I've put in pictures to explain things visually.  I'm guessing there are lots of secret musicians and technicians out there who started off the same way.  We had no money and very patient parents.]

It's about the cardboard boxes

Anyone who has shifted house would be familiar with the flood of cardboard boxes that get underfoot after the shift is over.  Well, we didn't shift house - we were all born at Sandel Street in Calcutta 16.  But my dad had a decent job at the airport in Pan American Airways.  This meant that the aircraft regularly offloaded stuff in these boxes and they were meant to be thrown out in the days before Reduce-Reuse-Recycle became popular.  For some reason these all had a brand LEAHY written on the sides and were known at home as Leahy boxes, used for storing books, files, art materials and a few assorted stuffed toys.  The story of the Leahy boxes is where the creation of the Beethoven drum kit actually starts.  But I need to introduce you to the preamble to the story.

Musicians those days, multi faceted

My dad had, at an earlier time, earned a spare buck playing the violin with various 'scratch' dance bands which had names covering the who's who of Goan sessions musicians in those days. And not only the violin.  One of his stories was of the drummer - could have been Fernandes, D'Souza or Menezes, I think the name changed with age.  Goan musicians drank a fair bit before, during and after the show so it was expected that the drummer would go and sleep below the Grand Piano somewhere towards the last hour of the show.  This meant throwing caution to the winds and the violinist having to sit behind the drums.  All Dad needed to do was keep timing so the uncles could swing their partners around the dance floor, to well known rhythms.  This inspired me, aged 10 perhaps, to attempt to become a drummer.

Beethoven inspired the drum kit

So the Leahy boxes were pressed into service as a drum kit. The bass drum required to be a large box, with a little weight to keep it in one place -- some of the heavy books did yeoman service as ballast.  A smaller box was the snare -- badminton racquet 'guts' were stretched across with elastic and bits and pieces of metal in order to get the snare sound.  Tom toms were any other box or even an old Lactogen can, suitably modified  with padding.  That left the cymbals -- no one has had a more generous mum than mine. A Dekchi cover had to be made available after much bargaining about the hole in the middle.  And to move generosity to the next level, I was provided with a threadbare towel to hang in front of the Leahy bass drum - and it had to have a "Logo".  You guessed it.  Ludwig was the big name in drums for those who could afford to look into the glass front of Reynold's or wander past Braganza's.  My other skill as an artist was called into play -- the logo was soon painted onto the towel and strategically hung in front of the bass drum.

Drums don't play without hardware

But you can't play a bass drum without the bass pedal, can ya?  Meccano to the rescue.  There's another whole story about my collectibles, but suffice to know that a couple of flanges, rods, wheels and nuts and bolts were put to work after they were dug out of Leslie's Box.

With those base plates as the foot pedal, a rod and some wheels, topped by a snooker ball perhaps (it was round and wooden) the bass drum pedal was created and it worked!  For good measure, I used a few more Meccano parts to create a 'cowbell' and some sort of a choke sound.

Stick around, it gets better

The final requirement for the drum set was the pair of drum sticks!  Latai to the rescue. My cousin was an avid kite flyer and had a couple of these broken latai reels lying around. I asked politely and inherited them.  Then with a heavy grade of sandpaper stolen from the house toolbox (Dad was a part time DIY hobbyist), I fashioned a set of drum sticks with heads and tapered necks.  It took time but was a labour of love.

I am sure that you would raise a glass to my parents as I began to "drum" at the most inconvenient hours in the house, keeping time to the record player.  But, I hear you cry, what's this got to do with Beethoven?

Beethoven was there

One day at the parish church there was a quiz being conducted.  My elder sister Carol was on the church team and my doting mum and I were in the front row, not intending to cheat but getting carried away.  Carol's team got a question: "What was Beethoven's first name?"  They were flummoxed.  Then my mother started making actions to indicate drumming and pointing to me. No one got the answer so the Quizmaster walked over and asked my mum why she was getting apoplectic about the question.  And she blurted out, "Leslie's drum set .. it's called Ludwig!"

Needless to say, there was hearty laugh from the family though the Quizmaster was still perplexed.  And the church team lost the quiz anyway.  And I particularly used the bust of Beethoven in the pic above because the cardboard drum set, like a house of cards, finally went bust!  

Some other time I will document the creation of the bass guitar from a solid block of wood to the stage - all true stories!

[Please leave your comments below.  Share the story with friends.  Would love feedback.]