do it yerself !

Make your own band for free!

In this section we will put ideas about how you can make your own instruments out of junk etc.. recycle them into music. Presently, it is very basic, but we hope to expand!!

To make any protest into a creative carnival to inspire all, simply D.I.Y.

Making the instruments is the obvious first step. Look at the instruments section of this site to find out the type of instruments you’ll need. Some of them, such as the caixa may be hard to improvise, but the others should be achievable from junk. Use containers, plastic and metal, and experiment with different levels of pitch and bass.

The shaker section can make their instruments from two food cans with the tops cut off, filled with small hard objects (ie dried beans, lentils, rice etc...) and taped together (and painted pink, of course!). Making as many of these is a good idea as you can hand them out to others when you play.

Making the back line of surdus is perhaps the first thing to get established. These can be made from bins or large plastic containers. One of our surdos is made with the body of a metal bin with a real surdo skin attached. Experiment with different ideas. It will be important to get the three distinct surdo levels (ie. low, middle and high) so try and find containers of different sizes.

The repenique can, again, be made from some container or other. Keep in mind that it has a very loud sound due to its very taut skin. Try to replicate this.

The tamborims are very piercing instruments so, again, keep this in mind.

Once you have your instruments, it’s time to learn a tune or two. check out the tunes section of this site, print them off and go for it! It will always be easier to try and find a teacher to get you going of course. Probably there is already a band in a nearby city and people there are happy to help you get a start.

Get some dancers to boogie to your tunes, a tactical support team for those big demos, and you’re off...