RacingHippo Sez "Stick it to MS!"

[RacingHippo]

Yeah, I know I just announced it in the "I'd like to announce" thread, but on second thoughts I thought it warranted a thread of its own...

On Monday 13th July, I shall be joining 599 similarly-warped persons in a great big hall in Brum.
We're all going to take our drum kits, too.
And then we're all going to play them.
At the same time.
And hopefully - really, really hopefully - the same rhythm.

We're doing it to beat the Guinness World Record for the "Largest Full Drum Kit Ensemble".
But more importantly, we're doing it to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

So this is a shameless plug:
Come one, come all! Reach for your credit cards! Sponsor me by donating on my JustGiving page! <= Click there!

[johninblack]

Good luck RH. Hope you all pull it off.

[namister]

Best of luck, would be good to hear and amazing

[Mouse]

Break a skin, Hippo!    Is any of it going to be filmed by anyone? I'd love to see what happens!  

[RacingHippo]

Break a skin, Hippo!    

Ta
I shall have to take a spare set, in that case.

Is any of it going to be filmed by anyone? I'd love to see what happens!  

No idea, actually, although I'd be surprised - nay, gobsmacked - if there weren't more than a couple of amateur cameras about, if not proper telly ones.  
I've no doubt it will appear on YouTube...

[RacingHippo]

There will be a LIVE video feed of the event right here.


In other news, today I built the kit I'm going to use.
We each have a space of 6'x4', but the snag is getting it (and the other 599 kits) into the arena.
The other snag is that there really, really won't be room for 600 sets of drum cases.

So we need to drop the kit off at a loading bay sans cases, leaving it in the hands of a bunch of luggers, who'll lug it to its allotted spot while we park our respective cars and get registered.

So the fewer bits to carry, the better.
The bare minimum to qualify for the record is:
Kick
Snare
1xtom
Hi-Hat
1x Cymbal

Here's what I've come up with:


(Telly not included)

... which breaks down into exactly the same number of luggable items as the bare minimum, thanks to The Plumbing:



...which mounts on the kick drum and holds:
2 toms
a ride cymbal
a 14" crash cymbal
16" crash cymbal
a cowbell

That should give me enough things to hit that I don't get bored whilst playing the same pattern for 5 or more minutes!

Incidentally, I've not reached my fund-raising target yet, and there's still time to make a donation, however small...... Just click here - it's easy!

[Nellie]

Huge buckets of luck Hippo!

[Pedro]

Nearly forgot to do this!
Best of luck RH - knock some out for us!!    :shock:  

BTW: I've taken the liberty of alerting the Tinyfishiverse to this on your behalf.  

[catherine]

Here's hoping you have a bangin' time!

[catherine]

So, RH - how did it go? We need a full report! Did you break the record?

[RacingHippo]

Oh, yes. Full report.
OK.

Haven't finished messing with photos and the little bit of video I managed to record yet, but I'll spend some time on that tonight hopefully.


We haven't yet got official ratification from Guinness, but 582 of us did indeed successfully play the same pattern in synchronicity for more than 5 minutes.
So barring Guinness being miserable, yes we beat the record

The experience was completely amazing.
When everyone was doing their own thang ("practising", or in most cases, "showing off by playing as loud and fast as they can") it was like standing right under a continuous thunderclap. It shook not just your ribcage but stomach, arms, and some internal organs that have never been shaken before.
Amazing.
Wisely the organisers were selling earplugs.

But when we were all playing together......... oh my. Oh wow.
It was like every snare stroke was being amplified by 600 Marshall cabs. Except it was more - there was a connectedness; I suppose it's like any time that a large number of human beings join together in doing something - there's a thrilling vibe to it. But with us all playing the same pattern together it had the multi-Marshall effect as well.... completely exhilarating.

Our first run through was OK for about 20 seconds... then it just went all over the place.
The Grand Idea was for a fella to be stood on the stage conducting.
Yeah, great idea in theory, except all but probably about a couple of dozen of us had never seen Proper Conducting in their life, and had absolutely no idea which wave of his hands was beat 1.
After a conflab, he opted for a far more sensible "arms straight up (Letter-I); arms straight out (Letter-T)" scheme.
At least we were all starting at the same time now.

But then the other problem became apparent: a significant number of players had probably never played to click, let alone to some bloke waving his arms about; they weren't used to going at a speed that someone else dictated, and so got faster and faster....

The fact that half the players weren't watching also made stopping rather fun. I imagine it was a bit like stopping a cruise liner. And made about as much noise as one colliding with a quay.

Still, after a couple of attempts (and those who were watching making some rather exaggerated arm motions with their snare-arms every time it started to wander), we managed a full 5 minutes through the pattern.

In between all this there were some solo spots from the pros, some of which were excellent (Jojo Mayer) and some weren't.  Although John Thomson (the host - that comedian fella from Cold Feet and stuff) is actually very good.

We broke the record at about 3:55pm.
There's a bit of video from Sky News on this page that catches the moment the record was broken. (Don't read the first three words. They make me swear.)
And if you think it sounds loud... it was. We reached an average of 105dB, peaking at 130dB.

There's also some blurb and piccies from the Daily Mail.

Just to prove I was there, look for the green Frost*shirt just below a tiny triangular white flag, here:


As we were packing away, the fella behind me said it looked like I enjoyed every single minute of it... especially the times where I turned round and "borrowed" one of his cymbals  :mrgreen:

[Bokkie]

How cool is that!! very cool i think.  i always wanted to do that playing drums with 598 other drummers.

[weezul]

edit: WOW!