Tambourine is probably one of the "accessory instruments" I like to play the most. Its possibilities are almost endless, and the ammount of techniques and tricks you can use on it are countless.
Few days ago, I played for the Asturias Symphony Orchestra a work with a very interesting tambourine part: "Romeo and Juliet" by Hector Berlioz. Here´s the video of one of the concerts (you´ll have to crank the volume up, as audio hasn´t been compressed):
As always, here you have the music:
As you can see, between rehearsal numbers 18 and 19, I use a peculiar technique which consists in swinging between the middle finger and the thumb. There are several ways you could play this passage, but I used this technique because I can keep the instrument high (keeping the visual factor, which is important to the public), because I can even both rhythmycally and timbrically my strokes, and because it helps me getting the phrasing I want (energy on the first note, coming all the following ones from that first impulse, and then tappering down the motif).
To play this technique, we have to even our fingers lenght in order to get all strokes of the same intensity. For this, make your right hand adopt the shape of an inverted "C":
With the correct position, put your fingers on the frame (this way, you´ll be on the jingles, they´ll react inmediately to your stroke and won´t be late. You will also get a clearer sound, as the head won´t sound, just the jingles):
Don´t play as in the following picture, as your thumb will be more on the head, thus producing a different sound. It´s not a good posture, as you´ll have to use to movements: a piston stroke with your fingers, and a rotary one with your thumb. The "C" position is better, as it uses just one movement and is more efficient.
Once you are correctly situated on the instrument, you swing back and forth between middle finger and thumb, trying to even and homogenize the sound produced by the two different strokes. Here´s a video that illustrates it:
This technique can be used on many excerpts: "España" (Chabrier), "Iberia" (Debussy), "Scheherezade" (Rimsky-Korsakov), "Alborada del Gracioso", "Rhapsody Espagnol" (Ravel), "Nutcracker" (Tchaikovsky), "Symphony #3" (Mahler)...
Also, this technique is fantastic for playing one, two and three notes ornaments. With little modifications, we can get dynamics above forte and play things like "Trepak" from ""Nutcracker" (yes, I played it not using my knee).
If you want a versatile technique, I recommend you trying this one, as its applications are numerous.
If aspirin cures everything, Tide cleans everything, and jeans combine with every piece of garment, we have to find a percusive equivalent thats works with everything, and that´s Stevens technique.
Many of you already know that I use this technique on marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel ("Pines of Rome", "Great Russian Eastern Overture"...), xylophone ("Appalachian Springs", "Oiseaux Exotiques"...), cymbals (one handed rolls), on set-up´s... Every time I need to hold two sticks in one hand, I use Stevens technique as, to me, it is the most versatile and complete one (apart form being fortunate enough to have studied it with Leigh Howard Stevens himself).
I have never felt the need to use four sticks on drumset. It´s not very common, but not new: Billy Cobham has been doing it for quite a long time (I also got some lessons from him while in London).
Mr. Cobham holds the sticks his way, but being myself a true fan of the Stevens technique, I was very pleasently surprised (and I could not help but give a hint of a smile) when I saw the following video. It features two great musicians: Tony Bennett and Clayton Cameron. This video proves this drummer knows what this technique is all about, as you can see him playing single alternate strokes on 2:03. Enjoy the music and, as a curiosity, add a new more utility to the Stevens technique.
Abandon technical dualities!, make room for this technique in your percusive life!
Today we´ll speak about a real technical and musical challenge: the xylophone part for Igor Stravinsky´s "Firebird". More specifically, we´ll discuss the "Danse de la Suite de Kastchei Enchantée par l´Oiseau de Feu".
Here´s the music:
When we play this excerpt, we have to get on to the tempo of the orchestra at 126, and think 16th notes to perfectly fit in when we start playing. It´s a wise thing to listen to the 16th notes played by the strings so, eight bars later, when we start playing, we are already in tempo and 16ths are nailed.
The tempo indication is 152. Obviously, this will depend on the maestro, so we better practise faster and slower speeds so as not to get surprised by different tempi. On this video, I´ve chosen a tempo of 165. It´s a (let´s say it that way) audition tempo, maybe not to musical, but it´s a speed that proves a panel I can play fast and accurate; it´s a tempo that, when competing with other candidates, can tip the scales in your favor (or not... Who knows!).
My phrasing idea until the "storm" of 16ths starts (four bars before 130) is as follows: A little weight on the first note, get all notes from that initial energy, and taper down at the end:
I don´t know if that phrasing can be heard due to the compression applied by the camera, but that was my intention.
Equally important is the dynamic gradation: piano at the beginning, mezzo piano four bars later on , mezzo forte at 129, forte at 130, etc... Again, that was my intention, but I don´t think the compression makes it easy to hear wat I wanted to communicate.
It´s crucial that, during the rest bars, we keep feeling the 16th note pulse and look at the condutor. You may have realized that I raise my head to stablish visual contact with the hypothetical maestro: never ever get caught by a conductor not looking at him. When ever possible (this excerpt, because of its difficulty, it´s not prone to this), I always raise my head from the instrument to look at the conductor.
We have to be very careful with the rhythm played by the strings in 128, as they start the bar with an 8th rest, producing a syncopation. Don´t let that confuse you: our tempo and rhythm have to be rock solid. The same happens at 129, where the motif is taken by the double basses:
Four bars before 130, I change the logical sticking and I start with my left hand so as to play the fourth interval between D and A with my strong hand (right one).
Until 130, our job has been a "colouring" one but, from that rehearsal number on, we are doubling either the woodwinds or the strings. We always have to be careful with our playing, but specially when doubling, as mistakes are more obvious due to some other instruments playing our same line.
At 131 and 132, where we are playing an upper pedal together with the strings, even we have a "generous" dynamic, I prefer to play a little bit less to let the other motif to be heard.
With respect to the ending (four bars before the allegro feroce), some players do an accelerando to prepare the new tempo, but I think it´s more effective and dramatic to make the change súbito (so it has a more ferocious character), but that doesn´t depend on me, but on the man with the batton. In an audition, I prefer to stick to the paper (and my own taste) and not play it. Different conductors involve different interpretations but, in an audition, I prefer to literally play what is writen so the panel doesn´t have to think, is he doing the accelerando because he knows the music, or because he cannot keep the tempo? When in doubt, I prefer to stick to the paper.
Last thing: you can see I play the last note with my right hand (contrary to the natural sequence). With that, I try to get the note that is supposed to be the strongest one with the recquired energy (I´m right handed).
I urge you to listen to this fantastic piece of music. Do not miss the tremendous ending.
I´m not one of those who follows what megastores say, so I don´t show my love when Walmart says I have to. Having said that, I can understand Valentine´s Day may be important to many people. For this, I´ll dedicate my post to Romeo and Juliet, the perfect lovers.
One of my favorite composers is Sergei Prokofiev, and his ballet "Romeo and Juliet" is a work I really like. I have played it before, and I´ll be doing it again on February 24th, 25th. As you may know, the percussion parts a real challenge to every instrumentalist.
Today I´m going to take a detour and write about something not directly connected with percussion. If you have a look at the subtitle in my blog, you´ll see that, apart from writing about percussive issues, my intention was to deal with "music, art and life". So, it´s about music and life what you are about to read in this post.
Obviously, in 1983, Spain was an innocent country, having left a dictatorship few years ago. I was innocent too, which is normal taking into account I was 7-8 years old at the moment. That innocence was perceptible in every aspect: society, politics, economy..., and obviously, music.
The other day I heard a song that triggered a ton of memories. As I said in the article "Radio memories", we have sounds, smells and feelings deeply kept in our "hard drive": so deeply kept, we cannot remember them until a sparkle fires a tornado of memories. It is then when all those smells, sounds... come out to the surface. Remembering is living again, and thanks to the memories this song brought back, I could re-live an extremely happy (my childhood) period in my life (in fact, apart from my father passing away, I can say my life has been always blessed with happiness).
This is the song, and it represented Spain in the 1983 OTI Song Festival:
What´s up with the OTI Festival? As far as I remember, it was a very tacky and uncool contest (even more than Eurovision!), in which Spain used to look Iberoamerican countries over its shoulder. It was a very dated event.
I want you to pay attention to the "studio version", as we´ll compare it to the "live" one. If you have already heard it, here´s how the song sounded live on that 1983 OTI Song Contest:
It is now that we can write about the innocence that reigned in Spain at that time.
First thing: Iberoamerican countries had hundreds of channels, and we only had UHF and VHF, two channels in which we had everything, and we didn´t seem to need the plethora we "enjoy" nowadays.
Other thing: have you realized the telephonic sound by the Spanish presenter? I don´t thing that standard would be acceptable today.
Now, something very funny that I´ll translate for you: during the introduction, the presenter says that "the song won´t sound as on the album, as there are some electronic instruments that were not allowed in the orchestra". He speaks about electronic instruments not knowing very well what "those things" are, they seem to be something so new that he doesn´t know very well what to say... Do you know any band sounding the same live as on a CD? I don´t, as nowadays acts don´t sing, nor play: they shake their booty.
80´s were the reverb era (reverb by the ton, I would say), and Lexicon units were the favorite toys at studios (I know a Spanish engineer which tells a story about a very famous flamenco singer which used to say "add me some more 50$ worth or reverb").
It was also the time of those now classical Simmoms electronics drums, with their hexagonal pads and characteristic "piuuuuuuuuuu" sound (without them, Italo-disco and Modern Talking wouldn´t have been the same).
What if our contestant is not allowed to use electronic instruments? An orchestra has to be used and... It has to play live! Yes, ladies and gentlemen..., there was a time when live music was the norm, with real musicians, and conductors as Augusto Algueró and Leiva leading good professionals. At that time, lipsync was considered a fraud. Today, the worst deception for the audience (no singing, no playing) is considered normal by our conformist society.
Other thing: this singer´s artistic name is Gonzalo. Is there anything more innocent than that? He is not named Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas or any other stupidity like that; he is Gonzalo (nothing less and nothing more).
In 1983 there was no need to use a head-worn mic and dance untill exhaustion while singing (with all the implications for intonation). Gonzalo doesn´t move at all (he is quite statuesque), but he had success! His hair-style was uncool, but he had success! He dressed in a normal way (no latex, no meat dresses), but he had success!
There are no half-naked women dancing around and simulating sexual acts, there´s no raper halfway down the song "singing" stupid lyrics, there´s no "Auto-Tune"... How could we live whitout all that in 1983?
When he sings (specially at the beginning), all plosive consonants saturate his mic (see that, even singing off-axis, that cheap dynamic sounds quite good), trumpets are cracking their highs, he sings out of tune, he rushes... He even sings his own delay! Logic thing would have been to use some backing vocals to create the effect, but he sings his own delay... Innocence at its most pure state!
Verses are not top notch (melody is quite repetitive and lyrics don´t fit very well), but the chorus is, to my opinion, very good (it is repeated several times at the end).
With all its defects, with all its innocence, this song and this performance kick ass compared with all the rubbish we are fed with nowadays: pretty non-singing faces, tit-showing acts, homogeneous all-the-same-looking rhythms, lyrics made by idiots for idiots, copycats thinking they are authentic, cocky attitudes, posers...
Don´t get me wrong... There´s no nostalgia in this post (well, maybe a little bit). It is said every past time was better, but I don´t think so: a past time is just a past time, worse or better depends on you.
What I think is undeniable is that, despite all technological developments, well prepared musicians, and the evolution of the show bussiness, I don´t think it´s better the popular mass-consuming music we hear today than that we heared in 1983. We were really innocent and, at the same time, much more valid and authentic.
Now, be honest and have a look at this video (a very recent one, coming from the Super Bowl half time). Almost 30 years later on, don´t you think this simply sucks?
Because of its simplicity, authenticity, innocence..., I prefer Gonzalo thousand times over many of the present pop stars. Black Eyed Peas and the rest of the musical rubbish can get lost in a black hole.
