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Doundoun stand

Usually if you play the douns vertically, they stand on the floor, but this has a number of drawbacks. First of all, the sound is not optimal since the bottom skin cannot resonate. This makes the douns sound a bit muffled and higher in pitch than they really are. Secondly, you have to sit behind them which limits your arm movements and your power. The doundounba usually is too high to play comfortably, and having to make the vertical movement from one drum to the other at a different height, is making playing far more difficult than it needs to be.

So I needed a very simple, versatile and light weight system to get my doundouns in a decent vertical playing position. And this is my solution.

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This is what you need:

  • 9 wood sticks, 75cm / 30 inch long, 18mm / 3/4 inch thick
  • 9 large key rings
  • 3 elastic luggage straps


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And this is how it works:
 
Doundounstand 0
  		This is all you take with you, apart from your doundoun set: a small bundle with 9 wooden legs.

 

Doundounstand 1
  		This is what the assembled set looks like. This set was handcrafted from plywood by Anton Kamp.

I have put rubber caps on one end of each leg and stained them to match the drums.

Doundounstand 2
  		Fix each of the three legs for each drum at the bottom, by sliding a large key ring around a pair of vertical ropes. Slide the leg through it.

The key rings stay on the drum permanently.

Doundounstand 3
  		Tie the elastic luggage strap (green and white in the picture) around the top of the drum. You probably have one of those elastics anyway for fixing a bell, or for fixing the drum to a chair when you play the doundouns horizontally, in Malinke style.

Slide the leg underneath the elastic, in between some verticals, and against the ring of the top skin.

No further fixing is needed. Each drum now "hangs" fro m its top ring which rests on the legs.

One size of legs fits any drum, any height, any diameter. The drums are easy to play standing up, and easy to move around for different arrangements.

Doundoun bell
  		To attach a bell, I use a piece of aluminium (30 x 3mm, 20 cm long). It is attached with two bolts. Each bolt is an M5 bolt with two rubber tap washers (kraanleertjes ), one metal washer (ring ) and a locknut (borgmoer). The rubber washers allow the bell to sound properly.
For playing the bell, I have an 18cm nail for loud playing, a thin aluminium pipe (6mm diameter, 35cm long) for softer playing and a thin wooden stick (9mm diameter, 40cm long) for very soft playing. To mute the bell even further, you can put a cloth over it.


 

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