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.
As you already know, I have a passion for the sea and sailing. These last thirty days were devoted to studying and preparing my exam for becoming a Yacht Skipper (my previous qualification was as Leisure Boat Skipper). I had to seriously prepare my exam, so I had to spend some time studying Vessel Technology, Security, Mechanics, Navigation, Radiotelecommunications, Metereology and Law.
On it, I explained how I like attention to detail and my preference for a scientific approach with regard to snare drum technique. On that occasion I wrote about matched grip; today, I´ll explain traditional grip:
Due to the 15 minutes limitation by YouTube, I had no time to explain all things I wanted to. They will come up in future updates. However, I think I was authorized by YouTube to upload longer videos, so future updates may be longer (if that´s possible!).
I said it before, but it´s worth remembering... Technique is not a goal but a mean, a mean to take you to the real aim: Music.
Having said that, do not look down on technique. If Michael Schumacher was driving a Ford Fiesta, he wouldn´t have been seven times F1 World Champion. Your technique has to run parallel to your musical talent, or you won´t be able to express anything.
Today, I´ll write about the way German, Dutch, and centre-European timpanists in general set their instruments up.
Before I go on, I´d like to thank Nick Woud, timpanist for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, who has helped me with his opinions and gave his permission for using some of his engravings.
The "normal" way timpani are set up is commencing with the low one on the left, ascending untill we reach the highest one on the right, imitating the disposition of a piano. That´s how it´s done in Spain, France, United Kingdom, Italy, United States...
The reason behind the first option is clear: imitating the way notes are set up in a piano. This option is more recent than its German counterpart.
There are various explanations regarding the low drum in the right side option:
1.- It is said timpani were played, sometimes, by double bass players. As we know, in this instrument, the low string is to the right side on the bridge, thus making for a double bassist playing timpani very natural to adopt the low to the right configuration.
I can´t find this theory convincing at all. We know timpanists and trumpeters were associated in very powerfull guilds, and all knowledge was transmited from master to apprentice in a very secretive way: only the iniciated could work as a timpanist, and strong punishments were reserved for those non-members trying to play our instruments.
This secrecy and oral tradition makes for us to know very little about the techniques used at that time, and very interesting traditions as the "Schlagmanieren" scape to our understanding.
For this, I cannot think of a double bassist trying to play timps without permission from the local guild, so this option is dismissed.
2.- Other reason to explain this set up is that, being right-handed the vast majority of the population, timpanists would like to play the the tonic with this hand (the strong one). This would be valid if drums were tuned to an interval of a 5th, as the tonic would be to the right side:
But drums were tuned to an interval of a 4th, not a 5th. For this, the tonic was on the high one, not being able to be hit with the right hand:
Again, this explanation is not valid.
3.- As you know, timpani, together with trumpets, were associated with cavalry (and from previous threads, you know fifes and drums were associated to infantry) and were mounted in pairs on horse back.
In order to mount, the rider always does it from the left side. Check these videos:
As you see, a horse is always mounted by its left side, and that´s due to the riders carrying swords or sabres hanging from their left side, so these weapons could be pulled out with the right hand. Mounting through the right side would have been impractical, as those hanging swords would have interfered with the process. If a timpanist has to mount with two drums on horse back, the easiest way is to place the smaller drum to the mounting side (left) to make this task easier, placing the large one to the right non-mounting side. All iconography shows timpany set up this way.
When timpani "dismounted" and took their place into the orchestra, this set up remained among timpanists, a tradition which still survives in Germany, Holland, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland...
This is the reason that better explains the low drum to the right side set up (some other instruments still adopt this configuration, such as bongos and tom-toms in a drum set).
The contrary is a newer one, and mimics a keyboard configuration.
As a curiosity, I found something that I thought invalidated my theory, and that´s an engraving property of Nick Woud:
Photo courtesy of Nick Woud
You can clearly see the low drum to the left side of the timpanist, but Mr. Woud told me it´s a mistake by the printer or an artistic license.
So, my bet for explaining the German configuration is the one associated with the cavalry.
Today, I´ll show you a video that proves timpanists are not free from unforeseen events (footage featuring the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra):
As a cautious musician, our timpanist has the lower right corner of the sheet folded, ready for the page turn, but... The stick gets in the way, and happens what Murphy´s Law prophesses... Total chaos! He tries to recover the score, but it is now an impposible task, and the only thing he can do is an as convincing as possible poker face. We have to say he did very well...
I have experienced something quite similar... It was many years ago, playing Grieg´s Piano Concerto with the Gijón Conservatory Orchestra. As you know, it starts with a timpani solo (a crescendo roll on A). As soon as I started playing, all my music fall down on the head (again, following Murphy, all papers fall on the "active" timpano instead of choosing the mute one...), making a funny noise, something like "gfrxxgrxgrfrfxgrfgfxxxxxxsssssscxscxscxs". Stopping was unviable, as it is a solo, so I had to pretend everything was ok, show my best "nothing-happens-face", and go on.
You see, accidents happen, so we better take them with our best sense of humor.
I always liked his book because of its attention to detail, its clear explanations, the application of scientific methods, its fight against some "percusive myths" and his sense of humor.
I´ve never found a snare drum book equivalent to "MOM", which explained with detail all aspects concerning the grip, how to properly strike, and which developed technical questions in a scientific way. I have read many great books (those by Queen, Moeller, Stone, Morello, Chapin..., come to mind), but none of them is as meticulous as the one Stevens wrote for marimba. If such a book as "Method of Movement for Snare Drum" exists, no doubt it´d be my favorite.
My snare drum technique comes from the observation of many percussionists, picking up those things I´ve found best suited my musical ideas, and discarding those I thought were not useful.
Observing myself, I got to describe and explain what I do and (most important) WHY. In the same way I think we have to know what to do with every single note we play (and we always must have a good reason for doing so), I also think that´s of application in the technical aspect: we must know what we are doing with our technique, why this finger is here and not there, why our hand moves this way and not the other, etc, etc...
Taking into account that what I´m about to explain is what works for me, and that it doesn´t have to necessarily work for you, this is how (trying to be as meticulous as Stevens) I undestand the grip:
Due to the 15 minutes limitation by YouTube, I had no time to explain all things I wanted to. They will come up in future updates.
Remember technique is not a goal but a mean, a mean to take you to the real aim: Music.
Having said that, do not look down on technique. If Michael Schumacher was driving a Ford Fiesta, he wouldn´t have been seven times F1 World Champion. Your technique has to run parallel to your musical talent, or you won´t be able to express anything.
The false dichotomy "technique versus musicality" many musicians believe in is quite funny, but we´ll write about it in futures updates.
Friday afternoon, due to the proximity of the weekend, is prone to make yourself relax... That´s exactly what I did yesterday, so I recorded a little caprice for snare drum.
Some of you already know that I´m messing around a lot with the snare drum, investigating, trying and discovering "new" things about the instrument and its technique. Everything that improves my control and technique, even with no obvious musical application, will be more than welcome.
Altough some techniques, "stick tricks", attitudes or movements could seem circus moves instead of musical ones, I don´t reject them for their value as a way to improve technique. For this reason, I´ve found myself trying certain things that, despite I will never use them in an orchestral situation, they´ve helped me to develop my technique to a state I have never known before.
YouTube is an invaluable source for information, where people with extraordinary talent upload their habilities. That´s what I´m doing now: surfing those videos, devouring information, assimilating it and learning as much as possible.
As a game, an inspired by the videos posted by Bill Marschall, this is what I came up with:
Take this as a divertimento, something not too important, a mere technique exercise...
