Do It Yourself gong beater.

Last week, the Asturias Symphony Orchestra played Jesús Torres´ "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. The part I was assigned included two gongs (Eb and Bb) played with hard mallets.

This kind of beater is not usual when playing gongs, so I had to use my imagination so as to get the proper mallet and character. Apart from a couple of them I forgot to photograph, these were the "tools" I took to rehearsals.

© David Valdés

The one on the left is the one I normally use when playing gongs (and I also used it on this program in a piano, sombre passage together with the other percussionists). The centre one is used for striking opera gongs, but was discarded because it could not produce enough volume. The one on the right is the one I want to talk to you about...

It´s made with a skate wheel I bought at Decathlon:

 

© David Valdés

© David Valdés

The handle is made of beech, and I got it as a 1m dowel at Leroy Merlin. It was cut to measure, the tip was sanded so as to fit the hole in the wheel and the butt was rounded for a more confortable grip.

© David Valdés

© David Valdés

Then, it was just a matter of introducing it through the hole in the wheel:

 

© David Valdés

© David Valdés

There you go: a mallet that perfectly fits the purpose.

© David Valdés

The following video (telephone quality, don´t be very picky...) shows the difference between the regular mallet and the one I built. You can hear a noticeable difference, which makes this beater fit perfectly in the context, where forte 16ths spread between all four percussionists for the duration of a crotchet are played.

This is the set I used (two gongs -Eb and Bb-, 22" Chinese cymbal and 5 octaves marimba).

© David Valdés

The following photo, courtesy of Marta Barbón and the Asturias Symphony, shows Rafael Casanova and I during one of the concerts. You can clearly see the mallet.

© Marta Barbón/OSPA

 

The concert was, as usual, recorded by the Spanish National Radio. If you stay tuned, you´ll be able to hear it in a few weeks.

…et in Arcadia ego.

© David Valdés

Concert at The Vatican City.

As I wrote in my article "Tambourine technique IV", the tambourine part in "Capriccio Espagnol" had to be put into context. Now that I have the video of the concert featuring the Asturias Symphony Orchestra at Paul VI Audience Hall in the Vatican City (a concert that took place last November 26th), I can show you the final result.

On this video you can see the 1st Alborada, together with the end of Scena e Canto Gitano linking with the Fandango Asturiano, where I also play castanets:

As you can see, due to the "heat of the moment", the maestro takes a faster tempo than that on the rehearsals; even in this scenario I could play the tambourine the way I planned (not without some suffering, but it could be done).

For all of you who could not travel to Rome, tune the Vatican TV or TPA, I´m passing you a link for you to download the whole concert. It´s an historic ocassion, as it was the first time a Spanish orchestra played at The Vatican, being H.H. Benedict XVI in the audience.

You can download the concert HERE.

…et in Arcadia ego.

© David Valdés