Need something added to my outfit to make a nice bang sound

[Sir. Kindle]

Hello again,

I seem to be posting an awful lot lately.

Here's the situation. We are doing a small skit for a very large group of children and parents on Wednesday, July 20th. Our skit involves 2 of us being knocked out by shovel. We've rehearsed the death out of the skit, but a big problem is that, aside from slapping our hands together, stomping on the ground, or slapping our sides, we have no way of making a good bang sound. Ideally we'd like it to sound like two pots banging together, or even like someone banging on a gong, but we don't know of a way of carrying something around like this, without it being obvious. We thought of bringing in another person who's only job is to make the sounds, but everyone in our group already has a job to do and can't be spared for this.

Any suggestions, or ideas on a way to carry something either hidden, or as part of the outfit that will produce a nice bang sound?

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

Sir. Kindle

[Dinobabe]

What about a digital recorder (i.e. iPhone) with the sound recorded on it.  One of the members not in at that point could sound it off.

[Sir. Kindle]

What about a digital recorder (i.e. iPhone) with the sound recorded on it.  One of the members not in at that point could sound it off.

Possibly, but the skit will take place outside, weather permitting, and it's right near the ocean. I'm afraid it might not be loud enough to be heard over all the ambient sound in the area.

Thanks for the suggestion though. Who knows, it's a very ritzy place that's hired us. Perhaps they have a stereo system hooked up outside. If so, this might work nicely.

Any other suggestions?

Sir. Kindle

[gem]

Can whoever is doing the knocking out surreptitiously strike the blade of the shovel (with his fist or something) at the moment of impact?

And not to be morbid, but the impact of shovel upon head doesn't really make a bang. It would be more of a wet thunk.

[isabelladangelo]

And not to be morbid, but the impact of shovel upon head doesn't really make a bang. It would be more of a wet thunk.

Kind of what I was thinking too.   

Maybe some confetti poppers -of course, it would look like your brains exploded if the kids saw the confetti part.  Not that they wouldn't enjoy that in the 7-12 year old group but the parents might object a bit. (I took morbid to a whole new level, didn't I?)

A couple of tiny cymbals?  The kind that modern belly dancers use?

[Captain Teague]

Have someone off scene bang two pots together. Or hang something metal up underneath a costume and have something metal in their hand and strike that at the appropriate time.

[Sir. Kindle]

Can whoever is doing the knocking out surreptitiously strike the blade of the shovel (with his fist or something) at the moment of impact?

And not to be morbid, but the impact of shovel upon head doesn't really make a bang. It would be more of a wet thunk.

Yes, that is a bit morbid.

I don't think the people hiring us would appreciate it much, if we went for a realistic sound. We are aiming for light hearted fun, not bone crunching realism. 

Unfortunately, the person hitting us, is doing so unintentionally, with the shovel over his shoulder. He knocks each of us out while turning to face the other person, so he won't be able to see when the hit takes place, or have the shovel in a position where he could strike it to make a sound.

isabelladangelo; you certainly did take the morbidity to another level.    

The tiny cymbal idea is great though! My mind is now swarming with ideas. That reminded me of seeing some pirates who were wearing bells on their boots at the last faire I went to. That, or placing the small cymbals somewhere on our belts, so we can strike them when we need the sound. I will have to test this over the next few days to see what might work best. Thank you!!

Lord Dragon; I've thought of hanging a pot inside of my outfit somehow, but haven't been able to come up with a way that isn't obvious, or comfortable yet. I've also thought of bringing in another person, just to make the banging sounds, but I'm trying to avoid this, as I'd hate to have someone come with us for the whole event (probably 3 hours, or so), just to spend 30 seconds of that time to bang the pots. I might be able to find someone willing to do this, but I'd feel awful guilty asking them. Thank you though, I might end up having to do this, if the cymbal idea doesn't work.

Thank you all for your ideas. I'll try to fill you in on the success of the cymbals, once I've had time to test the idea.

Sir. Kindle.

[Dinobabe]

Have the people being hit each tie the symbols to the inside of their knees or ankles.  Each can make their own sound when they get hit.

[Kruzar]

Have you thought about putting taps on the shows of the performers.. either the front or on the heal.  The heal might work best, and can make a good loud sound if emphasized... works really well with boots of any kind, and you can be deliberate or not so with them.

[Francisco Paula]

There was someone that use to be at our faire that hit himself with a frying pan but he had built a clacker into the pan, could this work for the shovel? The sound would go when the shovel stopped moving as in make contact with said head

[Adriana Rose]

how about you have one of folks not involved in that part whack a big arsed pot? ya know like the ones that are used for canning. They make a very good BONG when you whack it.

[Sir. Kindle]

Just to update everyone, we have tried pretty much every small banging instrument we could get our hands on...Cymbals, bells, and even maracas and small Japanese toy taiko drums. Aside from the drum, which we can't seem to limit to just one "bang" sound and actually didn't work as well when hanging from a belt, none of the instruments worked very well. They either didn't make the sound we were looking for, weren't loud enough, or we couldn't make them fit into our outfits in a way that worked. We are starting to get nervous, as the day is quickly approaching and we can't seem to find a working solution.

Sadly, there is simply too much moving about during the scene for something place on the bottom of our boots, or strapped between our legs to work. Either idea would constantly be making noise throughout the scene, even if we tried to reduce our movements in order to compensate for them.

We haven't tried placing some form of noise maker on the shovel yet, so that might be an option. However, the shovels is also grabbed a lot by each of us during the scene, so I'm not sure how we could control when it made the banging sound.

Sorry that this is proving to be difficult. All of you have made some great suggestions, which may work under different circumstances. Unfortunately, you only have the information regarding this event, that I am providing, which clearly hasn't painted a very good picture.

Let me, quickly, explain the skit. There are only three of us. The Captain, the First Mate, and the Quartermaster. We arrive on scene, having followed the captain's map to the location where we plan to bury the treasure. The scene unfolds where, in the process of burying the treasure, the Quartermaster's ability to dig without covering the Captain (who, is conveniently laying down, relaxing next to where he is digging) in sand is questioned, because he only has one eye. He grabs the big shovel from the First Mate (he was using a tiny, toy shovel to do the digging) and, after a comical exchange regarding his one eye, he eventually puts it over his shoulder and turns to address the First Mate directly, in the process knocking the Captain out with the end of the shovel. He then turns back to speak with the Captain, knocking out the First Mate. These two spots are where we need the sound to be made.

While we DO have a fourth person, a staff member from the country club, who will be knocking out the Quartermaster with a plastic bat, we hesitate to use her to also bang something together because we fear that we are already asking too much from Her. They gave us the impression that we were to do our thing with the kids, while their staff was  busy doing other things. They agreed to letting someone knock us out, but they seemed reluctant to let us "borrow" her for too long, or to ask her to do too much that will distract her from her other, apparently more important obligations that day.

This is proving to be frustrating, because we have done this skit once before at a birthday party, where we had the mother bang the Quartermaster over the head and take the treasure. She was more than happy to do it and she even provided the pots and happily banged them together when we needed her too. She didn't time it that perfectly, but it was close enough and the kids didn't notice.

Anyway, sorry for the long rant, but I'm hoping this will give you a better understanding of what we need and how/when we'll need it to work.

Sir Kindle

[Captain Teague]

One last try....

Each victim wear a large metallic bracelet. Hold that up when the shovel comes round so it hits that.

[Rowan MacD]

   That reminded me:   There is something being used in another skit for similar effect, by a couple of wenches.....
  She keeps a good sized coconut shell strapped to her bosom (which is artificially enhanced for that purpose) so that she can make a loud hollow 'clop' when she strikes her self in the chest with a spoon for good comic effect.  
  Perhaps you could rig something under a bulky headscarf that will make that noise when struck?  You could even borrow the clapper idea, and fix a loose wooden ball inside the cup to make it less complicated.  A good shake of the head will make a funny rattling sound too.... Just an idea.

[Sir. Kindle]

Interesting Ideas. I like the possibility of both, but think something metal on the arm might be the easiest to try out. I'll let you know after our next rehearsal if this will work.

I'll also have to see if I can place a coconut shell somewhere to make the sound. I think this would probably make the best sound, if we can rig something together to make it work.

Thank you both for the great ideas. I especially thank YOU Lord Dragon for not giving up on me and continuing to come up with ideas!

Sir. Kindle