Milltone Drum – A Very Cool Instrument

Milltone Drum from above

Sometimes, when I have a small amount of time to kill, I go to a website called Blogsurfer.Us which gives you a rolling scroll through seemingly innumerable blogs. Every six seconds, you are shown a new blog’s opening page. You can pause, or back up (controls just like a video player in the upper left corner) when something intriguing catches your eye.

It is a very easy method for pushing out your boundaries and finding stuff that you would, otherwise,  never have seen. I think doing just that is a good experience and helps keep the brain clicking as one ages.

Today, I stumbled upon a blog devoted to a very, very cool new instrument, the Milltone Drum.

Rather than try to explain it, let me ask you to watch this great video:

I love it.

The sound reminds me a little of the Kalimba, or “thumb piano,” common throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Kalimba thumb-piano

The Kalimba is also variously known as: Mbira, Mbila, Mbira Huru, Mbira Njari, Mbira Nyunga Nyunga, Marimba, Karimba, Likembe or Okeme. I have owned one for several years and it is easy and fun to play and usually captivates anyone (especially children) seeing it for the first time.  Highly-talented Maurice White, the driving force behind the success of Earth Wind & Fire regularly played a Kalimba during E W & F concerts and on several album tracks.

But the Milltone Drum is a high-tech, super-tuned beautiful version of this type of instrument. As good as it sounds in this Youtube video, imagine the wonderful tonal quality of this instrument when heard live. And each one is a real piece of art. These things are gorgeous!

These unique and lovely instruments are available on eBay for around $250.00. You can learn more, and see a number of stunning iterations of the Milltone Drum Blog.

Milltone Drum in Red

Milltone Drum decorations

thejazzmonger