Bock-a-da-bock

Infobox Instrument
name=Bock-a-da-Bock


classification=Hand percussion, idiophone
range=Single note

The Bock-a-da-bock is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is made up of two metal discs, usually steel, formed into a domed shape.

Origin

The Bock-a-da-bock was invented by a percussionist called Billy Gladstone who played in the Radio City Music Hall as an Orchestral Percussionist. He shaped the discs such that they were 8 centimetres in diameter, and slightly domed. These discs were then mounted on sprung tongs which could be held by the drummer playing the instrument.

Use and technique

This instrument is almost exclusively used in Jazz music or Bebop, in the early part of the 20th Century. The usual playing tecnique is either by playing together and cupping in the hands, or by striking them with a stick in one hand, whilst the other (usually the left hand) controls the grip.

Players

One famed player of this unusual Jazz instrument is Kaiser Marshall who played it on several Fletcher Henderson records, and Chick Webb who played it in the song, "Dog Bottom". cite web |url=http://www.network54.com/Forum/27140/message/1135835506/%22%3Bhand+cymbals%22%3B |title= The Bixography Discussion Group |accessdate=2008-06-01 |format=HTML]

Songs that use audible Bock-a-da-Bock parts

"Black and Tan Fantasy" by Duke Ellington (1927) [ "A Student's Guide to AS Music" by Paul Terry and David Bowman. Rhinegold Publishing LTD, 2005; ISBN 0-96890-90-0] "Dog Bottom" by Chick Webb (1929)

References