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The Original Rock Band
https://www.metmuseum.org/articles/wild-soundThe Original Rock Band
Bradley Strauchen-Scherer
May 26, 2015
The Till Family Rock Band. Photo courtesy of a private collection
«You could be forgiven for thinking that a reference to an 1890 "rock band" concert in New Jersey was a typo in the Bayonne Herald, but you would be mistaken. Instead, the article pays tribute the Till family, the remarkable English musicians who made and played the so-called rock band, also referred to as a rock harmonicon or stone xylophone, an instrument which has inspired the upcoming performance Wild Sound: Glenn Kotche and Third Coast Percussion in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium on Friday, May 29.»
The Till family were one of a handful of rock-band groups that captivated British audiences during the Victorian period, all of whom hailed from the area of Keswick in the English Lake District—the source of Skiddaw stone, a type of hornfels prized for its tone quality and resonance. Tuned bars of this sonorous rock were supported on a wooden stand and laid out much like a modern xylophone, with the largest instruments produced spanning seven octaves and weighing over one and a half tons.
The Met's rock harmonicon, produced around 1880 and gifted to the Museum as part of the Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, has twenty two bars that produce a three-octave diatonic scale, and originally may have also included a second row of stones to enable a full chromatic scale. A range of hammers and leather- and cloth-covered mallets were used to coax different timbres from the rock band. Contemporary listeners described the Tills' rock band as "an instrument whose upper tones are as sweet as silver bells, and whose lower ones have the depth and resonance of an organ" (Edinburgh Courant, August 29, 1882). Playing these instruments was often a team effort, as can be seen in photos of the five members of the Till family performing together on their stone xylophone.
Audiences throughout England, Scotland, and Europe heard the Till Family Rock Band during their extensive concert tours. The sound of the rock band caught the ear of the English art critic John Ruskin, who encouraged the family's performances and even owned one of William Till's stone xylophones. In the late 1880s, the family embarked on a concert tour of the United States and Canada, later settling for five years in Bayonne, New Jersey. During their time in North America, they are said to have given over one thousand concerts.
[...]
Bradley Strauchen-Scherer
May 26, 2015
The Till Family Rock Band. Photo courtesy of a private collection
«You could be forgiven for thinking that a reference to an 1890 "rock band" concert in New Jersey was a typo in the Bayonne Herald, but you would be mistaken. Instead, the article pays tribute the Till family, the remarkable English musicians who made and played the so-called rock band, also referred to as a rock harmonicon or stone xylophone, an instrument which has inspired the upcoming performance Wild Sound: Glenn Kotche and Third Coast Percussion in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium on Friday, May 29.»
The Till family were one of a handful of rock-band groups that captivated British audiences during the Victorian period, all of whom hailed from the area of Keswick in the English Lake District—the source of Skiddaw stone, a type of hornfels prized for its tone quality and resonance. Tuned bars of this sonorous rock were supported on a wooden stand and laid out much like a modern xylophone, with the largest instruments produced spanning seven octaves and weighing over one and a half tons.
The Met's rock harmonicon, produced around 1880 and gifted to the Museum as part of the Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, has twenty two bars that produce a three-octave diatonic scale, and originally may have also included a second row of stones to enable a full chromatic scale. A range of hammers and leather- and cloth-covered mallets were used to coax different timbres from the rock band. Contemporary listeners described the Tills' rock band as "an instrument whose upper tones are as sweet as silver bells, and whose lower ones have the depth and resonance of an organ" (Edinburgh Courant, August 29, 1882). Playing these instruments was often a team effort, as can be seen in photos of the five members of the Till family performing together on their stone xylophone.
Audiences throughout England, Scotland, and Europe heard the Till Family Rock Band during their extensive concert tours. The sound of the rock band caught the ear of the English art critic John Ruskin, who encouraged the family's performances and even owned one of William Till's stone xylophones. In the late 1880s, the family embarked on a concert tour of the United States and Canada, later settling for five years in Bayonne, New Jersey. During their time in North America, they are said to have given over one thousand concerts.
[...]
9 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
That dang Metropolitan Museum needs to get their sh@t together.
