Saturday, June 8, 2013

Warrnambool Railway Accident - by Herr Schoot (1897)

'This is a re-creation of the derailment of a train that occurred between Allansford and Warrnambool on 11 March 1897 recorded by Thomas Rome. Drum virtuoso George Twentyman, known as 'Herr Schoot’, created effects to mimic the sounds of a steam train pulling out from a station and then leaving the rails. Warrnambool residents play the parts of a train conductor and passengers reacting to the accident with screams and calls for assistance.'

From John Whiteoak "Unorthodox adlibbers" Sounds Australian, no. 59 (2002), pp30-32: 'Probably the best-known unorthodox sound gestures are those of variety artists who perform novelty musical acts, musical clowns, buskers and such-like...Their work has often foreshadowed aspects of the instrumental music theatre of Syd Clayton, Keith Humble and other Australians of the 1960s and later...In the 1890s the "celebrated drum demon" Herr Schoot featured an act with twenty drums and other percussion devices, in which he depicted battles and other noisy or catastrophic events'.