Shakespeare’s Glock
A glockenspiel in the grounds of Stratford-upon-Avon Youth Hostel, recorded on Shakespeare's birthday.
ByJames Peacock
The story
Me and my friends recently visited Stratford-upon-Avon for Shakespeare’s birthday weekend. Unfortunately our car broke down en-route, and we very nearly had to cancel the whole trip. Thanks to the AA, and the generosity of the staff at Stratford Youth Hostel, we still managed to have a good time. One bit of serendipity was that, whilst waiting for a taxi into town, we discovered a glockenspiel
in the grounds of the Youth Hostel and spent a good thirty minutes playing around with it. As something of an afterthought, I decided to get my phone out and record a couple of quick samples. I was pleasantly surprised by the results.
Reviews
Bell-like Glock sounds
This sounds a little like a glock-bell hybrid, with a nice sound in the mid range around the natural pitch of the sample. The major appeal of the instrument is probably the story/character, being a very specific instrument in an iconic location in spacetime. There is understandably noise in the samples due to the outdoor recording - I actually quite like the bird-noise as an atmospheric addition, and would consider artificially adding more ambient birdsong to diversify the sound a bit. However on the higher notes this atmospheric noise becomes something like a sharp rattle / scratching sound alongside the note, which is less appealing.
It's not every day you get to play a giant glockenspiel in Shakespeare's hometown, but it could be with this instrument.
Playful
What makes this instrument stand out is how strange and menacing it sounds in the low register. Could definitely be used as a sound effect in cinematic music.
One sample?
Yes, this is a one sample pack. It's not a glock which I would use personally but that is probably because if you are looking for a glockenspiel you shouldn't use this. Don't get me wrong, this is a cool instrument. But not, in my eyes, cool as a glock. It's more of a toy piano type instrument and if you are looking for a toy piano or something like that you might want to give this one a try.