Randy Max joined the Rotterdam Philharmonic as principal timpanist in 1988, where he performed the European premiere of the Timpani Concerto No. 1 by William Kraft. He has also performed extensively as timpanist with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, with whom he has appeared as soloist and toured North and South America, Europe and Russia.
Randy’s new timpani book and CD, Orchestral Excerpts for Timpani, provides authentic parts for 57 of the most-requested audition excerpts for timpani. On the enclosed 78 track audio CD is an orchestral performance of each excerpt, plus 21 play-along practice tracks. Today’s lesson is from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1. (more…)
Today we change it up a bit and talk about snare drum… Yes, you heard right. “Is the Accent Tap Exercise Underrated?” What are your thoughts?
For more episodes visit: Percussion Axiom TV
Is the Accent Tap Exercise Underrated?” What are your thoughts? In what context were you taught the accent tap exercise? How do you incorporate this concept in your teaching? Leave a comment.
Originally posted on DrumChattr on September 18, 2010 by Tom Burritt.
For more about Lee, more articles, and to see a sweet drum collection, see his website.
I refer to anything unexpected that comes up in an audition as a curve ball. This could be something pertaining to the music you are asked to perform, special requests from the committee, issues with equipment, or conditions in the performance space itself just to name a few. By recognizing some of these possible curve balls ahead of time we can better prepare for them or hopefully avoid them all together. For the purpose of this article we will be focusing only on circumstances that may potentially arise during the actual audition. (more…)
Check out Ben’s YouTube Channel for more educational videos. See him perform his multi-percussion work “Blade” here.
In this video Dr. Benjamin Finley discusses key technical issues in Tony Cirone’s “Portraits in Rhythm”, Etude #6. Ben, Director of Percussion Studies at East Central University in Oklahoma, prepared this instructional video for students who plan to audition for Round 1 of the 2010-11 OMEA All-State Auditions.
What are your thoughts about the pedagogical ideas Ben presents? When playing rolls do you use an open 3 stroke roll or more of closed roll? How do you make different kinds of sounds as it relates to articulation? (roof top accents/regular accents/tenuto markings etc…) Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Originally posted on DrumChattr on September 1, 2010 by tom Burritt.
“Connecting Your Head and Your Hands” by Lee Vinson
This article addresses the connection between technical practice and mental visualization in preparing excerpts for an audition.
I approach audition excerpts in two different ways. I first address an excerpt from a purely technical point of view. I try to tackle any technical problems independently from the excerpt by creating simple exercises that apply directly to the issues presented in the music. Secondly, I want to be mentally prepared to perform an excerpt. I do this through a variety of visualization techniques which we will discuss below. (more…)
