The Garbage-Men
Encyclopedia
The Garbage-Men is an American musical group of five 10th grade students from Sarasota, Florida. The band was founded in 2010 by students Ollie Gray and Jack Berry. The band promotes recycling, a green eco-friendly message, by playing music on instruments they make from garbage and recycled materials. The Garbage-Men perform their instrumental interpretations of classic hits for audiences large and small at various venues including local street festivals, science museums, and charity events. They can often be seen busking on street corners in the Florida Gulf Coast area.
The band has appeared on America's Got Talent, PBS Gulf Coast Journal with Jack Perkins, and The Blue Man Group's Invent an Instrument Contest.
The Garbage-Men have received awards for their contributions to the community, including The City of Sarasota, The Sarasota County Commission, and The Keep Sarasota County Beautiful environmental organization. They have volunteered to perform and help charitable organizations such as The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
, Sarasota County Public Library, Mote Marine Laboratory
, The Museum of Science and Industry, The South Florida Museum
, The Orlando Science Center
, and others. The band donates proceeds from the sale of their CD to Heifer Organization
and other charities.
- The electric guitar is a 1-stringed, plucked string instrument featuring a cereal box body, yard stick neck, bottle cap pick-up, lipstick bottle bridge, tooth pick frets, and shoelace strap. It is the lead instrument and is used to play melodies.
Electric Bass Guitar - The electric bass guitar is a 1-stringed, fretless bass featuring a cereal box body, yard stick neck, comb bridge, soda can thumb rest, and duck tape strap. Occasionally the upright bass is used in place of the electric bass for songs that require a more jazz-like feel. It is made from a wooden box and a PVC pipe.
Electric Violin
- The electric violin is a 1-stringed chordophone played with a shoe horn bow and made from a cereal box body, paint stick neck, clothespin bridge, and cassette tape tailpiece. It plays harmonies and leads.
- The trombone is made from re-purposed PVC pipe and a oil funnel bell. It uses a slide made from PVC and a mouthpiece made from a bottle.
E♭ Contrabass Bugle
- The bugle is made from re-purposed PVC pipe and a traffic cone for the bell. It is limited to notes within the harmonic series because the embouchure controls the pitch.
Flute
- The flute is made from a small section of PVC pipe with drilled holes to play an E♭ pentatonic scale. It is keyless.
Alto Saxophone
- The saxophone is a keyless aerophone with holes drilled to play an E♭ pentatonic scale. It uses a Corn popper toy for the body, a balloon for the reed, and a medicine bottle ligature.
Contra-alto Clarinet
- The clarinet plays chromatically in the key of E♭. It features a re-purposed PVC pipe body, bottle cap keys, and a balloon reed.
- The drums include various items found in the garbage. The kit features a paint bucket snare, water jug toms, compost bin bass drum, metal trash can lid cymbals, tin can cowbell, and a porcelain bowl gong. The drum kit is used to keep time and fill empty measures.
Chromatic Percussion
- The glass bottle idiophone is made from recycled glass bottles and uses tooth brush mallets. It can play chords and melodies.
The band has appeared on America's Got Talent, PBS Gulf Coast Journal with Jack Perkins, and The Blue Man Group's Invent an Instrument Contest.
The Garbage-Men have received awards for their contributions to the community, including The City of Sarasota, The Sarasota County Commission, and The Keep Sarasota County Beautiful environmental organization. They have volunteered to perform and help charitable organizations such as The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens are extensive botanical gardens dedicated to research and collections of epiphytes, especially orchids and bromeliads, and their canopy ecosystems...
, Sarasota County Public Library, Mote Marine Laboratory
Mote Marine Laboratory
Mote Marine Laboratory is an independent not-for-profit marine research organization based on City Island in Sarasota, FL. The laboratory aims to advance the science of the sea, both through its marine and estuarine research labs and through the public Mote Aquarium and its affiliated educational...
, The Museum of Science and Industry, The South Florida Museum
South Florida Museum
The South Florida Museum, located in Bradenton, Florida, is a museum specializing in the natural and cultural history of Florida's gulf coast. It houses exhibits highlighting Florida history from the prehistoric to the present period....
, The Orlando Science Center
Orlando Science Center
The Orlando Science Center is a private not-for-profit corporation, organized under the laws of the State of Florida, USA, and located in Orlando...
, and others. The band donates proceeds from the sale of their CD to Heifer Organization
Heifer International
Heifer International is a global nonprofit with the goal of ending poverty and hunger in a sustainable fashion. Established in 1944, Heifer International gives out gifts of livestock, seeds and trees and extensive training to those in need...
and other charities.
Personnel
- Ollie Gray - drums
- Jack Berry - guitar
- Harrison Paparatto - trombone, bugle, saxophone, violin, clarinet
- Evan Tucker - bass
- Austin Siegel - chromatic percussion
Instruments
All instruments are constructed from every day items found in the trash or recycle bin.Strings
Electric GuitarElectric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
- The electric guitar is a 1-stringed, plucked string instrument featuring a cereal box body, yard stick neck, bottle cap pick-up, lipstick bottle bridge, tooth pick frets, and shoelace strap. It is the lead instrument and is used to play melodies.
Electric Bass Guitar - The electric bass guitar is a 1-stringed, fretless bass featuring a cereal box body, yard stick neck, comb bridge, soda can thumb rest, and duck tape strap. Occasionally the upright bass is used in place of the electric bass for songs that require a more jazz-like feel. It is made from a wooden box and a PVC pipe.
Electric Violin
Electric violin
An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body...
- The electric violin is a 1-stringed chordophone played with a shoe horn bow and made from a cereal box body, paint stick neck, clothespin bridge, and cassette tape tailpiece. It plays harmonies and leads.
Winds
TromboneTrombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- The trombone is made from re-purposed PVC pipe and a oil funnel bell. It uses a slide made from PVC and a mouthpiece made from a bottle.
E♭ Contrabass Bugle
Contrabass Bugle
The contrabass bugle, usually shortened to contra, is the lowest-pitched instrument in the drum and bugle corps hornline. It is essentially the drum corps' counterpart to the marching band's sousaphone: the lowest-pitched member of the hornline, and a replacement for the concert tuba on the...
- The bugle is made from re-purposed PVC pipe and a traffic cone for the bell. It is limited to notes within the harmonic series because the embouchure controls the pitch.
Flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
- The flute is made from a small section of PVC pipe with drilled holes to play an E♭ pentatonic scale. It is keyless.
Alto Saxophone
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
- The saxophone is a keyless aerophone with holes drilled to play an E♭ pentatonic scale. It uses a Corn popper toy for the body, a balloon for the reed, and a medicine bottle ligature.
Contra-alto Clarinet
Contra-alto clarinet
The contra-alto clarinet is a large, low-sounding musical instrument of the clarinet family. The modern contra-alto clarinet is pitched in the key of EE and is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the EE contrabass clarinet...
- The clarinet plays chromatically in the key of E♭. It features a re-purposed PVC pipe body, bottle cap keys, and a balloon reed.
Percussion
Drum KitDrum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- The drums include various items found in the garbage. The kit features a paint bucket snare, water jug toms, compost bin bass drum, metal trash can lid cymbals, tin can cowbell, and a porcelain bowl gong. The drum kit is used to keep time and fill empty measures.
Chromatic Percussion
Idiophone
An idiophone is any musical instrument which creates sound primarily by way of the instrument's vibrating, without the use of strings or membranes. It is the first of the four main divisions in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification...
- The glass bottle idiophone is made from recycled glass bottles and uses tooth brush mallets. It can play chords and melodies.