Kolberg percussion
| Kolberg Percussion GmbH | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1968 |
| Seat | Uhingen , Germany |
| management | Bernhard Kolberg, Klaus Kolberg |
| Number of employees | 22nd |
| Branch | Musical instrument construction, music accessories, orchestra furniture |
| Website | www.kolberg.com |
Kolberg Percussion is a musical instrument manufacturing company specializing in percussion instruments and orchestral supplies. It produces in Uhingen and supplies international symphony orchestras , opera houses, music colleges and music institutions directly.
history
The company was founded by Bernhard Kolberg, who was born in Upper Silesia in 1942 and came to Stuttgart in 1957. His dual training and experience as a mechanical engineer and orchestral drummer helped him to understand the professional needs of musicians and orchestras and to implement the requirements of music practice in such a way that his products were very well received. In addition, Bernhard Kolberg did an apprenticeship with the drum maker Eugen Giannini in Zurich. After his active time as a drummer with various symphony orchestras (Süddeutscher Rundfunk, Stuttgart Opera Orchestra, Stuttgart Philharmonic), he started his own business in 1968 as an instrument maker, initially in Ebersbach / Fils. In 1978 the company moved to its own premises in Uhingen.
For the 35th anniversary in 2003, the cellist and musicologist Helmut Scheunchen published a short portrait of Bernhard Kolberg and an outline of the company's history, in which the role of the hidden champion in percussion instrument making and orchestral equipment is described.
Outside the industry, Bernhard Kolberg also appeared with a tin drum that he made on behalf of Volker Schlöndorff for his Oscar-winning film adaptation (1980: Best Foreign Language Film) of "The Tin Drum" by Günter Grass . An abstraction of this red and white tin drum is now part of the company logo.
Products
The company has a product catalog of over 4,000 items, the majority of which are percussion instruments . In the meantime, however, orchestra supplies (music accessories) also represent an important product line. Complete furniture for symphony and opera orchestras is offered. This includes music stands and conductors' desks, special seating furniture for the individual instrumentalists in the orchestra, as well as transport and storage furniture. The flight cases for the transport of furniture and instruments of all genres are also an addition to the orchestra's needs .
The percussion instruments , which are played by hand or with a wide variety of mallets, form the largest product group in terms of numbers, alongside the other sound and effect instruments. In the systematics of musical instruments (so-called Hornbostel-Sachs systematics ) conceived by Curt Sachs and Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and published as early as 1914, these are mostly instruments belonging to the idiophones and membranophones. These include drums with one skin such as bongos, tom toms or congas, then also those with two skins such as snare drum and bass drum, but also the whole range of effect instruments from various wooden drums to castanets and tambourines to triangles and basin . In addition to the previously mentioned untuned percussion instruments, there are also tuned percussion instruments with distinct pitches such as glockenspiel , plate and tubular bells, xylophones and cencerros and the like. v. a. And exotic or unusual effect instruments such as wind machines, thunder sheets, car horns, frying pans (Sartenes) or bird calls are also part of the product catalog. Mallets are produced in all versions required for professional playing of the percussion instruments or as custom-made products.
In order to be able to reproduce the multitude of instruments and the great variability in the instrumentation prescribed by composers in both chamber music works and symphonic instrumentation, Bernhard Kolberg designed the combination stand system . It is a mounting and holding system designed according to the modular principle, which allows the musician to freely arrange his percussion instruments so that they can be used easily and played optimally. This system, which has been developed from Bernhard Kolberg's orchestral practice since 1964, has meanwhile established itself worldwide as the standard for professional playing of percussion instruments . It has proven itself in music practice to place the instruments for individual compositions or sets of compositions on a stand so that it is easy to use as a whole - for example when assembling and dismantling during a performance. An example of this is the composition Rebonds A et B for solo percussion ( 1987-89 ) by Iannis Xenakis .
Technology and innovations
The intensive examination of instrument making and the experience in playing technique, especially in the orchestra, enabled Bernhard Kolberg to realize numerous technical inventions, further developments and improvements.
In the further development of the timpani , particular attention was paid to the sound quality and ease of use. Based on his knowledge of playing practice, Bernhard Kolberg was able to introduce 18 new technical developments: including the hand-hammered copper kettle made of one piece, the steplessly adjustable and lockable pedal with a heel lever, the range control, the tone indicator and the fine tuner on the player's side.
A patented inner pedal damping was developed for the bass drum in order to dampen the reverberation and to control its duration.
The permanent thumb swivel on the tambourine was made possible in 1995 and the replacement of the metal clamps using interchangeable pins was patented.
On the marimba , central height adjustment with a single crank was created for the first time in 2002, making it easier for the player to use. This central height adjustment is also offered for all other stick chimes ( xylophone , glockenspiel ).
The marimba is also made of a sturdy aluminum frame and equipped with aluminum resonators, so that the small instrument (range A - c4) weighs only 64 kg, the large instrument (range C - c4) weighs only 89 kg. In connection with the modular construction in up to 17 components, it is therefore a very portable and transportable marimba.
In coordination with Karlheinz Stockhausen and according to his sonic ideas, a glissando drum was developed for the composition "Moments" with a range of two and a half octaves.
The music stand , which can be pulled out and enlarged in height and in its support surface , was developed in 1975 in order to be able to carry oversized formats or several parts at the same time.
Showroom and drum museum
In the company building in Uhingen there are several exhibition rooms with a total area of more than 1,000 m², in which all instruments and accessories can be tried out, as well as a large showroom in which the sound effect can also be tested in a large room. In order to implement special sound ideas for their works, many composers have already visited them. B. Pierre Boulez , Krzysztof Penderecki , Olivier Messiaen and Iannis Xenakis .
In addition to this showroom, there is also an extensive collection of historical and exotic percussion instruments that Bernhard Kolberg has acquired or that have been made available by musicians and music institutions.
Percussion Lexicon
Bernhard Kolberg started working on a lexicon many years ago to document all the drums in the world that are used in art music . Today the database used for this already includes more than 500 percussion and effect instruments and is therefore significantly more extensive than the list of percussion instruments .
The company's “Percussion Lexicon” is currently being revised and will then be made available online.
literature
- James Holland, Laurence Libin: Kolberg Percussion GmbH. In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 3, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 194
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ [1] Article "For the 35th anniversary of the B. Kolberg Percussion company in Uhingen" by Helmut Scheunchen in: Schlesischer Kulturspiegel, Ed. Stiftung Kulturwerk Schlesien, Würzburg 38th year 2003, issue 2 (April - June), p. 26f.
- ↑ [2] Article "Voll Grass: the tin drum from the Filstal" by Hans Jörg Wangner in: Stuttgarter Zeitung No. 179 of August 4, 2012.
Coordinates: 48 ° 42 ′ 41 ″ N , 9 ° 34 ′ 18.5 ″ E