instruments de musique vegan vs non vegans? (vegan musical instruments?)
Posted by Vegancycle on Jul 14, 2007 · Member since Jul 2007 · 4 posts
Hi. I am a french speaker, I will try to translate well.
French:
instruments de musique vegan vs non vegans
Bonjour. Je suis vegan. Je n'en rencontre pas beaucoup. J'aimerais devenir musicien. Je vous demande de m'y aider. Dites-moi quels instruments de musique que vous savez ne pas être vegans, et ceux que vous savez être vegans.
English:
vegan vs non vegan musical instruments
Hi. I am vegan. I don't meet a lot of vegans. I would like to become musician. I ask you to help me about it. Tell me what musical instruments you know being vegans, and those you know not being vegans.
I fixed a typo in my message. I only changed "instrument instruments" by "musical instruments".
By vegan rockers I think you mean vegan musicians? No, I mean tools to play music. Musical instruments. Violin, Piano, Saxophone, Guitar, Drums are examples of what I mean.
But yes vegan musicians names could be useful too.
Bonjour Vegancycle and bienvenue!
I understand your question, it can be hard to find musical instruments that do not have animal by-products, such as skins on drums or "cat gut" strings. I played brass instruments in school and I believe they would be safe! I can't think of anything brass instruments would be made of or put into that would come from an animal. If you are interested in playing a strings instrument you can buy stings that are not made from animal, just request them at your music store :) I hope that helped a litte!
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The bow of orchestral stringed instruments (violin, viola, cello, bass) is also usually made of horse (tail) hair, though synthetic hair is widely available too. I should note that synthetic hair on bows is generally considered an inferior product (I played violin for 15 years as a child).
Synthetic strings are easy to find. This is a brand that is widely used among students and professionals (it has a nylon core):
http://www.amazon.com/Thomastik-Dominant-Violin-String-Set/dp/B000E1VONW
Welcome to VegWeb.
I fixed a typo in my last message. I only changed "Guitare" by "Guitar".
Bonjour Vegancycle and bienvenue!
I understand your question, it can be hard to find musical instruments that do not have animal by-products, such as skins on drums oCapture
Drum skins are made of plastic and have been for many many years.....as long as I've been playing...which is a long long time...the exception being hand drums such as bongos, congas, etc....there are still drum heads made of animal skins.....none of us that play drum set for a living use them....they don't stay in tune....and basically....sound about as good as hitting a spoon on a cardboard box. I'd say that at least 99.9% of all drum heads sold for drum sets are made of plastic. Not the most environmentally friendly material...but better then playing on a dead cow's skin :-\......personally, when it comes to a cow...I prefer to hear MOO! :D
I play the saxophone, and recently found out that the pads of the keys are calves' skin. I actually have just about the cheapest sax there is, and apparently this is how it is for other woodwinds. I don't know of any alternatives for the pads, or if brass instruments have "pads" too to seal in the air.
Also, saxes have "pearl" on their keys, but for cheap models like mine, it's fake pearl. For the better ones I imagine it would be real...
(I haven't replaced the pads on my sax since I bought it. I probably ought to, but not until I can find a better solution than veal!)
Natural, animal-based elements have been replaced in most musical instruments for many, many years, given the fact that synthetics are cheaper and better. "Horsehair" in bows is now acrylic, which is stronger anyway. "Gut" strings are now synthetic, as are "silk" strings.
To get "real animal" based instrument parts you mostly have to move into the expensive, handmade versions.
Bonjour Vegancycle and bienvenue!
I understand your question, it can be hard to find musical instruments that do not have animal by-products, such as skins on drums oCapture
Drum skins are made of plastic and have been for many many years.....as long as I've been playing...which is a long long time...the exception being hand drums such as bongos, congas, etc....there are still drum heads made of animal skins.....none of us that play drum set for a living use them....they don't stay in tune....and basically....sound about as good as hitting a spoon on a cardboard box. I'd say that at least 99.9% of all drum heads sold for drum sets are made of plastic. Not the most environmentally friendly material...but better then playing on a dead cow's skin :-\......personally, when it comes to a cow...I prefer to hear MOO! :D
Opps, i should have made the distinction that i was refering to the hand drums, thanks Dave! (((hugs)))
I've been playing piano for almost 22 years. Traditionally, the white keys were made with strips with ivory, but now plastic is almost exclusively used. Of course, if you buy an old piano, it could still contain ivory (don't know what year the switch happened, hmmm. I think the trade ban was in 1989? That sounds too recent). Ivory also chips more easily than plastic. Everything else on a piano is wood, metal, and felt. :)
Guitars are usually vegan. If you go to a shop, they should be able to tell you what materials were used to make the instrument. Most use synthetic or non-animal materials, although you may need to be wary of shell inlays on the fretboard. Some guitars are still built for gut strings. You cannot use gut strings on guitars made for metal strings and vice versa.
Les guitares sont habituellement vegan. Si vous allez a un magasin, ils devraient pouvoir vous dire quel materiaux utilize on ete employes pour faire l'instrument. Les la plupart emploient les materiaux synthetiques ou d'non-animal, bien que vous puissiez devoir etre circonspect des marqueteries de coquille sur le fretboard. Quelques guitares sont construites pour des cordes construites les sources animaux. Vous ne pouvez pas employer des cordes construites les sources animaux sur des guitares faites pour des cordes en metal et vice versa.
Je suis desole pour mon francais! J'essayais de vous aider.
Natural, animal-based elements have been replaced in most musical instruments for many, many years, given the fact that synthetics are cheaper and better. "Horsehair" in bows is now acrylic, which is stronger anyway. "Gut" strings are now synthetic, as are "silk" strings.
To get "real animal" based instrument parts you mostly have to move into the expensive, handmade versions.
Horsehair is still very, very common with violin-family bows and is mostly considered superior to synthetics, at least in terms of sound quality (synthetics, as mentioned are more durable). Low-quality, very inexpensive bows will usually be strung with synthetic hair. This is not the case with gut strings, where synthetic can be just as good or better.
See this article, from '95 (and not much has changed since then):
http://www.johnson-inst.com/horse.htm
Though, after doing some searching, this particular brand claims itself to be "superior to horsehair in ever way," though I'd be interested in reading independent reviews:
http://www.boogiemusic.com/product_info.php?cPath=428_429_682&products_id=57067&sid=70693b306b20a62e2535b9fc70561391
Note that I no longer play violin, and if I did I'd use synthetic bow hair even at the cost of quality (although I wouldn't have a problem if I personally knew the horse the hair was coming from was still alive and had been treated well--this senario is very unlikely though). At one time I wanted to be a professional orchestral violinist, and was probably good enough--I just couldn't stand the pressure and amount of (petty) competetiveness at the top levels. I have never been so stressed out in my life, and all I really wanted to do was play for the enjoyment of playing. I really enjoy the more (apparently) free-spiritedness of guitar and drum players.
That was why my sister dropped out of the orchestra she was in--we're talking ground glass on people's strings, and all like that, all for one chair higher or lower. Madness.
Over here at least (in the home of the Spanish guitar), gut strings haven't been used in forever. Silk, sometimes yes...but often what's sold as "silk" is actually acrylic. They are not above using a traditional label to sell a man-made product. Just as with clothing, you are often sold something labled "seda" or "sedita" (silk or little silk) and it's synthetic--and no one is surprised. Real silk is prohibitive in price, so if it's reasonable, it's man-made. Of course this is Europe--I couldn't speak for the US.
Merci à vous tous. Thank you all of you.