A month or so ago, a very interesting collection of percussion instruments was put up for auction and I wondered about its providence, put it on a watch list and kinda forgot about it… A week or so later, I decided to put a bid on it and as the auction deadline approached I checked back and someone had asked the seller who the collection belonged to… Turns out the collection belonged to Norman Gadd who was a percussionist with the NZ Symphony Orchestra for 33 years, and died in 2012 aged 80.
The auction deadline finally arrived and I managed to fend off two other fervent bidders, paying more than I wanted to but decided it was too rare an opportunity to pass. When I picked up the collection it turns out it was Norman Gadds son who sold it, who is also a percussionist but is primarily electric now. Imagine the feeling, opening boxes of percussion instruments collected up over a lifetime! For example a quick google search turns up this photo taken in 1945 of Norman Gadd as a boy, with a beautiful drum kit set up in the garden. On the kit is a set of four temple blocks, and in one of the boxes was a larger set of seven temple blocks as well as two giant temple blocks, all the same design as in that 76 year old photo.
Funnily enough the name Norman Gadd also reminded me of some vinyl I had seen, and sure enough:
Every instrument I pulled out of the boxes is a delight, but there were also a few larger items: a gong, a bass drum, a small xylophone/glock, timbales, tambourines, wood blocks, a bell tree that covers almost 2 octaves…
But one of the most fascinating to me, is a cloth bag full of whistles:
While some of these are variations of a sports whistle, there is a series of animal sounds eg cow, duck caller etc and some truly vintage Acme animal sounds (a rabbit call!) But one whistle at first stumped me, until I realised it only works on the in-breath! There is also a larger slide whistle which has almost zero friction on the slider – well used, perfectly maintained and capable of crazy pitch slides!
I do intend to document this collection individually, as I record material with them. Some will end up in HISSandaROAR sound libraries, others eventually into Kontakt instruments, while many will make appearances in music I am working on.
I feel it is important to keep the collection together – many people apparently contacted the seller asking for the collection to be broken up and sold off individually, but I don’t think that is the right thing to do. Once such a collection becomes dispersed, it will never even be remembered as being a part of the Norman Gadd collection, and its history will be lost.
There is one set of props in the collection I am recording next week for a HISSandaROAR UNIT FX Library, so I’ll explain more about them once it is available.
It gave me a great deal of pleasure to read this as Norman was my father. I am happy that the many instruments he collected over the years have gone to someone who will appreciate and value them. I remember so many of them which were kept in dad’s music studio and I loved to use them and hear the stories about their origins.
Thank you Sharon. I wish there was oral history recordings of such stories, but I know how reticent I am in front of a microphone.
I will go through all of his instruments I have, and document them with photos (and eventually video and sound recordings) – if its ok I will save your contact info and would love to ask a few questions, and if appropriate share any memories or anecdotes.
I love percussion and the cross over into sound effects. Its clear even just from these instruments how creative your Dad was.
Hi Sharon, my husband and I have just returned from Wellington and we’ve purchased a guitar that was owned by your dad from Alistair’s music shop in Cuba st, my husband has a passion for classical and flamenco guitars and couldn’t believe his luck at finding it. It is rare indeed . Do you know how it happened to be in your dad’s collection? It was built between 1897 -1910. We would love to know more of its story
He taught me from the age of 10 to 16 in his Johnsonville Studio, I stood in front of his oyster premier kit ith a ride cymbal and practice pad…whatever happened to that kit?
We (the Matthews family) lived opposite Norm and his family in Hollies Crescent, Johnsonville. My father helped Norm build his music studio in the 1960s. As a boy, I remember hearing Norm practice his instruments, especially the Xylophone, which would waft over the neighbourhood. I always thought it was pretty cool to be living in the same street as a member of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra!
Markus Matthews
Melbourne
thats a lovely memory, thanks for sharing!