Some of you may know that I founded Whistle & Drum, an small/niche online Irish musical instrument shop. For the past decade or so, we’ve been selling Christian’s drums – Irish drums or Bodhráns as they are properly called. (Pronounced like “Take a bow, Ron!”). I’ve had the distinct pleasure in witnessing Christian go from a great up-and-coming maker to one of the world’s leading makers or Irish drums today.
It dawned on me about a year ago that nobody had yet set out to tell Christian’s story through film – how a German cabinetmaker fell in love with Irish traditional music and wound up focusing his life’s work towards making these instruments. I pitched the idea of making a documentary to Christian and after finally getting our schedules to jive, headed out last September to begin filming.
In looking for a good deal on plane tickets I discovered that Iceland Air was not only the cheapest but they also give the option of letting you book a stay over for up to 1 week in Iceland for no extra charge. I’ve long wanted to visit and film in Iceland so I booked a stay over on the return leg and also grabbed a ticket for my wife Deborah to join me. We ended up having a blast traveling around the southern half in a small camper van. More on that in another post shortly.
One of the legs of my flight out there was delayed so I ended up getting into Munich quite late on a Monday night. Christian picked me up and we headed to a local McDonalds to get out late-night grub on and do some pre-production planning. Since I was only going to be filming through Saturday morning, we had a lot to do and cover.
The filming schedule went something like this…
Monday Night: Arrive!
Tues
- Morning: Workshop / Drum-Making
- Lunch: Stevie Moises’ Shop / Lunch Stevie & Christian Brainstorming Session
- Afternoon: Stevie Interview / Katharina (Christian’s Wife) Interview / Beech Forest Hike
- Late Afternoon: Archery Session
- Evening: Rainer Interview & House Session
Wed
- Morning: Varnishing Shop / Christian Interview Session
- Mid-Day: University of Munich Sound Research Lab Interviews
- Afternoon: Christian’s Shop: Skin Mounting, Frame Making & Interview Session
Thursday
- Morning: Landscapes & Varnishing Shop Interview Session
- Afternoon: Interviews: Christian’s Mom & Christian (at Beech Forest).
- Evening: Session!
Friday
- Early Morning: Workshop
- Mid Morning: Rolf Wagels Interview
- Lunch: Tunes with Rolf & Barbara Hintermeier
- Afternoon: Workshop
Saturday
- EARLY Morning: “4am” Run
- Mid Morning: Workshop / Drum Making
- Late Morning: Family stroll to bakery.
- Mid-Day: Leave for Airport!
Was a great trip and I’m really looking forward to the edit. I’ll start in earnest late January / early February and push for a late spring release. It’s looking like the premiere may be in Brooklyn but we’ll see as things progress.
So, this post serves as friendly intro to the project and as a way to include all of you who would love to hear Christian’s story thus far told through film. Feel free to join the discussion below and/or on The Drum Maker’s Facebook page here.
