Over the past couple of months, I have been introducing snare drum rudiments. For the percussionist, rudiments are like scales. You should be practicing them everyday just like a wind player practices scales. In today’s video, I would like to introduce my snare drum warm-up that I wrote a year ago. This 12 minute warm-up includes all of the basic strokes to give you a well rounded warm-up. Please download a copy of my snare drum warm-up, get out your practice pad, a metronome and go for it. (more…)
Every Instrument in this Room by Geoff Sheil is a new piece for vibraphone, marimba and electronic playback. This performance features Paul Keesling, vibraphone and Robby Bowen, marimba. For more information about Geoff and his music, visit his website.
We are half way through September and we are nearing the end of the MLB Season. (Go Dodgers). Yesterday, I wrote a post about “Why Do We Study Music?” Please check it out and share it with other music educators. I would love any feedback on the post as well as any links to additional supporting documents. Have a great week and thanks for your continued support. (more…)
How many times have you stepped up to the marimba to work on a passage and it seems like you have never seen the music before even though you spent hours practicing the day before? Well guess what? This happens to everyone including me. It is frustrating and makes you want to throw your mallets across the room. If this sounds familiar, I want you to start incorporating block chords into your practice routine.
If you think about it, we use block chords in our warm up routine (or at least you should be). Block chords allow us to warm up our big muscle groups and work on accuracy. So why do we only use them in warm ups? Here’s are some tips on how to use them on your next difficult marimba and/or vibraphone piece. (more…)
This may be an obvious question for most of us, but as I continue to think about the future of music education and how we can reach more people, I think we need to be able to justify “Why We Study Music.” Too often we don’t quantify or have solid evidence why someone should study music. We all know how it feels to work hard, practice and then perform to the best of our ability. Unfortunately, our government agencies can’t or won’t understand why they should fund arts organizations. We need to be able to give them solid, research based evidence. (more…)
In the previous episode, I have talked about the triple stroke roll. Please make sure to review that video for more information. In today’s episode, I introduce the multiple bounce roll, aka the “Buzz Roll.” Let me know if you have any questions and comments. (more…)
Recently, as I was putting the finishing touches on the University of Texas Percussion Group Fall 2014 Concert I discovered a connection between the composers; all had recently won Pulitzers.
2014 – John Luther Adams
2013 – Caroline Shaw
2012 – Kevin Puts
2011 – Zhou Long
2010 – Jennifer Higdon
2009 – Steve Reich
2008 – David Lang
With the exception of Puts, I had works by JLA, Shaw, Long and Higdon all on the docket. That represents 4 out of 5 of the last Pulitzer Prize Winners in the music category. Most of us are more familiar with the works of Reich and Lang than the previous 5 names on the list, but it was, in the end ridiculously easy to make an entire program of works who’s genesis began with a prize winner. And, Puts for what it’s worth, has several very nice offerings for percussion as well. So, what does this mean?
I believe we are living in an important time for percussionists, especially for those who play chamber music. Is there anything to this observation that suggests percussion instruments have taken a huge stride forward (in the last 7 years) in relevance to contemporary music? While I obviously feel strongly that there is a pattern here perhaps we won’t really get there until a work written entirely for percussion wins the big one.
Are we there yet? Leave your thoughts below the post.
Classic percussion ensemble literature and one of the top 10 most performed pieces in our literature. This video features Pierre Boulez conducting the Ensemble InterContemporain.
By now, everyone is back in school and getting back into the swing of things. Are there any new pieces that we should check out? Please make a comment below. As always, if there is something that you read this week, let me know and I can add it to the list next week. Have a great week! (more…)
There is a lot of great music being written for concert snare drum and this piece definitely fits into that category. Bounce, for snare drum and pre-reorder audio was composed and performed by Anthony M. Di Bartolo. This performance was recorded, mixed and assisted by David DeLizza. Filming and video effects by Jeffrey Masino. Recording space – mSOUNd studios (Philadelphia, PA).
