24 Festive Drums @ 24 Season Drums

Brief History

The 24 Festive Drums also known as 24 Season Drums was chosen for this project. These drums was chosen since it plays a major role in Malaysian Chinese community culture, but needed to be imported all the way from Taiwan and China.

Drum symbolizes Chinese tradition. Since ancient time, drum has been considered as a necessary and being widely used in all kind of Chinese society occasion, celebrations wars or fiesta. The 24 Festive or 24 Seasons drums was first brought to Malaysia in 1988 for the National Dance Competition in Johor Bharu, at that time there were only nine drums used. Since the event drew major interests, the Chinese Association stepped up and brought in the first set of 24 drums. Mr. Chen Wei Chong from Foon Yew Chinese Secondary School was roped in to train drummers and the rest they say is history. Mr. Tan Chai Puan and Mr. Tan Hooi Song are two individuals who were involved in instrumental establishment and growth of the drum art through Malaysia. They have been involved in the Malaysian 24 Seasons drumming style through its inception in the Chinese drum festival to this date.

A typical Malaysian 24 Seasons unit consists of twenty four drums. The number twenty four is not an arbitrary selection. It represents agricultural seasons from the Chinese calendar. The name of each season is painted in calligraphy on each drum. Summer, /autumn, winter and spring are the primary seasons which are further divided into six secondary seasons. According to a farmers calendar the seasons which constitute the twenty four seasons are: Seasons in Spring First of spring Rain water Awakening Spring equinox Clear water Rains suitable for grain Seasons in Summer First of summer Grains begin to ripe Grains are ripe Summer solstice Minor heat Great heat Seasons in Autumn First of autumn Still warm in autumn Winter dew Autumn equinox Cold dew Frosting Seasons in Winter First of winter Minor snow Heavy snow Winter solstice Minor freeze Great freeze

Even though each drum troup has its own individual style, the original styles of performance were meant to depict movements of farmers and activities on a farm.

The Product

Even though the product chosen have 24 units of drum, this project will concentrate on one unit, since all the drums are of the same design and size.

Figure 1: 24 Season or Festive Drum

The 24 Season or Festive Drum (refer Figure 1) consists of three major parts; the drum head (refer Figure 2a), drum container (refer Figure 2b) and the drum sticks (refer Figure 2c).

Figure 2: a) drum head, b) drum container and c) the drum sticks

For this project, the part chosen for new composite suggestion is the drum container. The container is made out of ..wood in China.

New Composite Suggestion

The drum container is imported since it requires China or Taiwan wood craftsmen skill and woods that are available in either country. A new composite material and fabrication processes are suggested in this project to make building this drum possible in Malaysia.

i.

New Composite Material Suggested fiber - Carbon or boron fiber High performance structures Wide range properties Superior tensile & compressive strength Excellent fatigue Corrosion resistance Suggested resin - Epoxy resin High performance matrix systems for continuous fiber composite. Temperatures up to 250 275 F Good dimensional properties Good resistance to heat and chemicals Strong adhesive properties

ii.

Fabrication Process for New Composite Material

Figure 3: Filament Winding Fabrication Process

Since the drum is cylindrical, the fabrication technique suggested for manufacturing the new composite is filament winding. The process involves winding filaments which are continuous length of fiber strand, roving, or tape, under varying amounts of tension over a mandrel. The mandrel rotates while a carriage moves horizontally, laying down fibers in the desired pattern. The carbon or boron fibers are coated with synthetic resin as they are wound. Once the mandrel is completely covered to the desired thickness, the mandrel is placed in an oven for thermal curing to solidify (set) the resin. Once the resin has cured, the mandrel is removed, leaving the hollow final product. The result is a shell of materials with a high strength-to-weight ratio.

Advantages

Firstly, building this drum using composites material ensures a greener and sustainable environment for mankind, as there is no need for cutting hundreds year old trees in order to obtain wood material to construct this drum.

Secondly, using composite will promote longer lifetime for the drums, as composite will last longer, non corrosive and anti termites. Besides that, the composite drum will be more portable, easy to transport since composite tends to be light weight.

Finally, it is less expensive to build the drum using composite as it is not necessary to import the drum from overseas. This will show major reduction as there will be no cost for transportation and taxes. Cost for craftsman pay can also be deducted.

Market Potential Not many people can build this drum. In Taiwan there are only 10 people that can construct this drum Can use in many occasions such as celebrations, festival etc. Can accompany with other dance such as lion dance, dragon dance.