Actually you are all in for a treat; introducing the Bottlehran. It is the current rage in the Cultural Hub of the Western World, (Shepherdstown, WV, natch!).

Get a plastic water bottle, the type that are now used to service your standard water cooler. Bring your chromatic tuner, and strike the side of the empty water bottle with a well padded tipper (more on this later). You will find that with the right water bottle, they will give off a low note (I now have E, F, and C# bottles, but the Holy Grail is an A bottle, or failing that, a D or G). The right bottle has a wonderful drone note, which will remind you of the wet rim of a large bowel or a very clear diggerydo.

You hold the neck of the bottle in your left hand (they are quite light) and strike the side in bodhran fashion. You cannot really do the two headed tipper bit and most regulr tippers sound like s--- anyway. Get a regular drum stick (or dowel) and cut the thumb out of a cotton (not leather) glove. Cut a strip of sponge about 3/4 of an inch wide and 3 inches long. Fold it over the top of the drum stick and cover it with the glove thumb. Tie off the loose end of the glove thumb by winding it with heavy tread or light wire. You now have a soft end with which to stike the bottle in bodhran fashion. It helps to use plain spray household furniture wax on the side of the bottle, and the drum stick tip, to reduce the friction. This increases the hum as well as the deep bell-like tone.

I'm now using the F bottle on the Xmas tune "Little Drummer Boy" as well as the "Campbells are Coming", and the E on "Morrisons Jig" and "Swallowtail". I have also used it with a Tabor pipe in some French Renaissance music.

I have a friend of mine who is a private pilot. He is now holding a tuner, and tapping empty water bottles in every small airport he lands at...