Snare drum solo.

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...

If you are interested, this is the transcription:

© David Valdés

You see... This is what a Friday afternoon can do for your technique.

…et in Arcadia ego.

© David Valdés