Drumeo is a great resource for drummers. The site features hours of video content by the world’s top drum set artists. Their tagline is “Learn Anything On The Drums with The World’s Best Teachers.” David Garibaldi, legendary drummer with Tower of Power, shows the “King Kong Beat” and how it influenced his playing. Check it out and download the PDF. What is the most important beat you ever learned? Leave a comment below so we can check it out.
The California Percussive Arts Chapter hosted the 5th annual Percussive Arts Society Competitive Festival on Friday, May 5th, 2017. The Competition was held at the Fresno State Music Building and percussionists competed in the following categories: solo marimba, solo timpani, solo concert snare, and chamber percussion ensemble. (more…)
Keiko Abe just celebrated her 80th birthday on April 18. Keiko Abe is a Japanese composer and marimba artist. According to wikipedia.org: “She has been a primary figure in the development of the marimba, in terms of expanding both technique and repertoire, and through her collaboration with the Yamaha Corporation, developed the modern five-octave concert marimba.”
I subscribe to a great newsletter called “The Creativity 101 Digest.” It is a monthly newsletter that has 10 articles, videos or images that discuss creativity. (Highly recommended!!) In the April newsletter, Wil Reynolds talks about “The Hidden Danger of Confusing Outputs for Outcome.” The basic premise is that we shouldn’t concentrate on checking off the things on our to do Lists. Instead, we should focus on the outcomes that occur. Think about it. When we get rid of something on our to do list, it feels great and we can go on to the next thing, but what came out of completing the task? As musicians, we often think about practicing something until it is perfect or complete, but how often do you think about putting together a to do list with the goal of helping your development down the road. Check out the video and let me know what you think. Leave a comment below and let me know your developmental goals.
Wil Reynolds: The Hidden Danger of Confusing Outputs for Outcome from 99U on Vimeo.
Reynolds started Seer Interactive—a leading SEO and online marketing agency—in a small apartment back in 2002. Since then, the company has grown to more than 100 people. But scaling the company was not without its growing pains. In this energetic talk, Reynolds shares how he learned to put a "lid on his hustle" and made sure his values weren't compromised as his company grew. "Getting things done means giving things up," he says. "It can't all fit. You need to have the border."
Scott Deal and Michael Drews discuss their trio Big Robot, performing pieces using live processing and how to get started working with electro-acoustic music.
After a long week in Dayton, Ohio, the 2017 WGI World Championships are a wrap. It was a great week for everyone involved. Check out the WGI.org website for a full recap of the week’s events.
Today’s video features Roger Carter (and Roger Carter) performing the SRC JAM. Go to VicFirth.com to download the play-along track(s) and PDF. You can submit a recording of yourself playing Roger’s SRC JAM. Click the link above for the submission details.
Please let us know if Vic Firth selects you for a video. Post the link in the comments below.
VicFirth.com is a great educational resource for percussionists. Their educational videos feature mallet, drumset, marching and percussion instruments. There is something for everyone, including the Mallet Literature Library which has already been featured on Percussion Education.
This post features a new series on jazz drumming with the AHA! Trio (Steve Houghton, Steve Allee and Jeremy Allen). (more…)
The Black Page first appeared on Zappa In New York in 1978. Terry Bozzio recounts how the Black Page was written:
He wrote it, because we had done this 40-piece orchestra gig together and he was always hearing the studio musicians in LA, that he was musing on that, talking about the fear of going into sessions some morning and being faced with “the black page”. So he decided to write his “Black Page”. Then he gave it to me, and I could play parts of it right away. (more…)
John Serry’s Night Rhapsody for solo marimba is one of the great early pieces in the contemporary marimba repertoire. While still clearly “Serry-esque”, his new work Groundlines deviates significantly from his masterwork of over 30 years ago. Featuring Dies Irae quotes and Sonata Form,Night Rhapsody features a clear connection to the Romantic Era of wester classical music. That connection seems to be missing entirely from Groundlines leaving us with pure compositional mechanics. Check out the video to formulate some reactions to this new work expertly performed by Ji Hye Jung.
What are your thoughts on Serry’s compositional shift with Groundlines? What are your impressions of the work as a whole?
Multiple percussion duo scored for 5.0 octave marimba, 2 sets of bongos, 2 congas, 2 toms, 1 concert bass drum, and 2 splash cymbals. Both performers have identical set-ups and work “as one” by complementing each other with complex hocketed music played on marimba (shared: one player on each side) and multiple percussion.
Sound clip performers: Gene Koshinski and Tim Broscious.
While this is one of my favorite percussion duo pieces, “Dance of the Drums” is a close second!
Skype Lessons with Dr. Gerhart