Thread: 2 different sized cymbals?

The dominant hand for cymbals thread got me wondering again:

I've seen some dancers play with 2 different sizes or sounds of cymbals. I think you put maybe the "C" tuned cymbal on your thumbs, and the "G" tuned cymbal on your fingers, or maybe they use 3 C cymbals and 1 G or whatever.

Does anyone hear do this? What arrangement do you use and which cymbal designs did you mix? I tried this with my Afghanis and my Grecians and ... eewww -- not a good blend. Any suggestions for designs to mix to get "2-note chords" or non-identical tonal sounds? Just for fun?

Also, is this kind of 2-sound arrangement actually done by any ethnic dancer? For some reason I had it in my head that it's a Turkish Rom thing, but I can't find any actual evidence of that.

No idea what the origins are, But Jim Boz actually markets a set of zills like this. 3 brass, one silver. The Silver one definately has a different tone.

{{{HUGS}}}

I think Aunt Rocky plays 2 different sets, one type on each hand?

Michelle Joyce mentions this on her Killer Ziller DVD. I'd never heard of it before then.

I do this all the time. In some of the restaurants I work in, the space is small so really loud and high tones get irritating fast. To dull the sound a bit, I use mini-zills with my soroyans (normal model?) It gives a duller ring sound that doesn't give the customers migranes.
You are right though, I had to try a couple of different combinations before finding one that gave a nice sound. Some zill combos were horrible!

Crystalized - which Saroyan model did you mix with your minis? I'm trying to work out the best sounding combinations.

I try to have my dominant hand zills a lower tone than the other pair, so that the sound in a triple (1-2-3) is

1 - 2 - 3
low high low

This is the way most of the cymbal players in bands in Egypt have their cymbals tuned. ..but not all. Dancers sometimes do this too. I do it both for dancing and while just sitting in the band and playing.

Leyla - what brand and model cymbals do you prefer? I'm trying to find a matching tone for my afghanis, but haven't had the best luck yet.

I lost one of my smaller gold saroyans, so I used one big silver saroyan as a fourth, and I kindof like it. Sounds like a cool thing you all are talking about, harmonious 4th zill.

This is interesting. I've never heard of this.

Originally Posted by aziyade

Leyla - what brand and model cymbals do you prefer? I'm trying to find a matching tone for my afghanis, but haven't had the best luck yet.

I like my early version of Soroyan's Afghanis. They were called another name, but they sound very like the new ones. and Soroyan's Jim Boz's. I play these when I'm not interested in the low-high-low sound.

I've never found a pre-packaged set of zills with the difference in tones between 2 pairs in the set. I bought my sets that have the low-high-low sound pattern in Cairo, in a Mohammad Ali Street music store going through a big box of each size to find 4 with the sounds that I wanted. I have a set of Jim Boz's from Soroyan. I like them but they don't have the clear distinction between low and high that I like to have between right and left hands. The pair of zills that are mixed silver and brass sound different from the pair that are both brass, but it seems to be more a difference in timbre than pitch.