http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz_V-75NRok

For more information on the Genesis Hand Pan, please visit Dave’s Island Instruments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGiDJM542d8

Please leave your feedback below. Visit Bachovich Music Publications for the sheet music to this and other timpani solos.

The photo in this post is courtesy of Yamaha Percussion Instruments.

Samba de los Changitos will be published this Spring. PanSon is available from Bachovich Music Publications. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

2 Mallet Double Sticking Considerations:

1) When executing a double sticking, use your dominant hand whenever possible. We strive for evenness between the hands, but you are always going to have more control of your dominate hand.

2) Do your double sticking on the smallest interval. It is much easier to do a double on a second than an octave.

3) Double from the “black keys” to the “white keys”/naturals whenever possible. I have seen too many people get their mallet stuck when trying to double from the naturals to the accidentals.

4) When figuring out if you are going to use a double sticking, make sure that the double sound even and you are creating a good sound. An audience member should not know you are doing a double sticking. It needs to sounds as even as your alternate stickings.

5) There are going to be times when another sticking works better and that is ok. The main goal is to create music and musical phrases.

Am I forgetting anything? How do you teach your beginning marimba students about double sticking. Please leave your comments below.

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Originally posted on DrumChattr.com on September 6, 2011.

The photo in this post is courtesy of Yamaha Percussion Instruments.

With that being said, the three things you should always be working on are:

Reading
All musicians should spend 15-30 minutes A DAY sight reading. It doesn’t need to be melodic reading (although that it is probably weaker than your rhythmic reading) it just needs to be music you have never seen before (AKA Sight Reading).

Where can you get music? The number one source of free, public domain sheet music is IMSLP.org. If you are not aware of IMSLP, it is the internet’s largest source of free, public domain sheet music. For sight reading, I would suggest starting with Bach or Mozart Violin or Flute Sonatas. If you have someone else who wants to do some sight reading, check out the Bach Inventions. This is just a starting point. There is so much music on the site that I promise you will never read everything.

How to sight read? There are many beliefs about how you should sight read something. Generally, once you play through it once, you aren’t sight reading any more. But, I generally do it a little different. Here are my steps: First, I scan through the music and see what the most difficult part is going to be. That section will determine my tempo. I always use a metronome when sight reading because it keeps me “honest.” Depending on your level, you can use the metronome on every beat or just the down beat of the measure. Once I figure out my tempo, I make sure I check out the road map and key signature and then it is go time. I read through the piece once without stopping. Once I have read through the piece once, I spend 30 – 60 seconds going over the most difficult passage and then I read it once more. Before you say, “The second time is not sight reading,” I know that. I think it is important to improve upon my previous reading of the piece. Once I have read it a second time, I put it away. Instead of printing all of these pieces, I use my laptop and/or iPad to view the PDF. I find that saves paper and I have material to share with my students. I also like sight reading with other people. It adds a level of accountability. Bach Inventions or Mozart String Quartets are perfect for this.

Rolls
There are many technical demands when playing percussion (I know that is not new information for our readers) and rolls are universal on all percussion instruments and something we need to work on daily to maintain. When I talk about rolls, I am not just referring to Snare Drum rolls (although that is where I spend most of my practice time). I do a regiment of SD roll exercises that include single, double, triple stroke and multiple bounce rolls. (I will introduce the specifics of my SD warmup in a future post). Working on single stroke rolls helps me maintain my timpani and mallet rolls. By working all of these different rolls types at different tempos, it allows me to change the speed of the roll depending on my phrasing and musicality I want to bring out in my performance. I enjoy working on double and triple stroke rolls and working on my fulcrum and grip to make the changes I need to accurately execute the different roll types. I really like the roll exercises in Developing Dexterity by Mitchell Peters and The Roll by Emil Scholle.

Ear/Listening
In my opinion, developing your ear is one of the most underrated and under practiced areas of most musicians. Working on your ear should be an ongoing, daily activity. (I am not only talking about tuning timpani when I talk about developing your ear.) I am talking about listening and being more aware of what you are doing and what you are hearing.

Here are some suggestions on how to develop you ear:

1) Practice singing intervals. You can use your smart phone and download a piano app and/or a tuning app and incorporate this into your daily practice.

2) Play duets and chamber music. This will help you work on your ensemble listening skills.

3) Listen to a lot of different music styles. It is great to listen to your favorite group, but try and listen to at least one artist during the week that you have never heard. Practice playing with the recording and transcribing the grooves on the album.

4) Practice with your metronome more effectively. I wrote a blog post called Metronome Strategies for Improving your Timing
that talks about using your metronome as a listening devise and a timing devise.

5) Go hear live performances and talk about what you heard with a friend or colleague. See if you are hearing the same things that other people are hearing.

6) Videotape and/or audio record your rehearsals and performances. When you are ready to run through something, record it. When you are standing behind an instrument you hear things a lot different than you do from an audience point of view.

The more experiences you have with listening in different ways, the easier it becomes to listen to yourself and others.

These are three areas I think all musicians should continue to develop to be successful. Like I said at the beginning of the post, it is naive to think that these are the only things we need to do to succeed, but these three areas are definitely something to work on.

I would love to hear your input on these thoughts. Please leave your comments below.

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Originally posted on DrumChattr.com on February 28, 2012.

The photo in this post is used under the Creative Commons License: Attribution – NonCommercial – No Derivs 2.0 by jon.swanson on Flickr.com.

1) Concert Program Archive
On the Calendar page, I will be posting all of the programs of the my past concerts. Feel free to check out the programs and let me know if you have any questions about the repertoire.

2) Listening, Reading, Practicing
IN the right sidebar, I have listed what I have been listening to, what I have been practicing, and what I have been reading. All of these listings include links.

I am really excited about my new site and I am working on writing some posts concerning Social Marketing and Percussion Pedagogy as well as a video series on Snare Drum Technique.

Thanks for your continued support and please send me a message if there is something you would like to see on the site.

Go – Robert McClure
Red Tree, Yellow Sky – Bill Ryan
Ollin – Tizoc Ceballos (BCCM Alumnus)
Two Duets – Randall Bauer
Crash – Terry Longshore
A Feast of Thunder – Sherwood Shaffer
Circle Takes the Square – Axel Clarke & Dave Gerhart

Tickets are $10 & $7 and are available at the door. For more information, please visit the Facebook Event Page. Hope to see you there.

I would like to thank Dr. Thomas Burritt for bringing me to UT Austin and David Saad, director of the UT Steel Drum Band! I would also like to thank my sponsors Yamaha Percussion Instruments, Zildjian Cymbals, Innovative Percussion, and Evans Drumheads. I had an amazing time working with the students in the studio and steel band. Thanks for the incredible hospitality and energy!

Photos courtesy of Rebecca Brand.

I strongly believe we need to create our own opportunities in order to “succeed” as a working musician. Sure, some of us are going to win a Symphony audition or be at the right place at the right time, but more likely, you are going to have to work hard, practice a lot, meet and connect with people and hustle any gig you can get. One of the first things I recommend is to start a private lesson studio and offer your services to school districts and drum lines. Start developing a relationship with the local schools in your area. Offer to do a masterclass (for free) in exchange for passing out your business card or a flyer. Once you have secured some students, make sure you have somewhere to teach. Be sure you have all equipment that is needed as well as handouts, practice pads, metronomes, pencils, a mirror and anything else you need for the lesson. Remember that first impressions are important and if you look unorganized, the student (or their parents who are paying for the lessons) will find someone else. Create a good learning environment at your studio. This space will not only be used for lessons, but it is YOUR practice space too. Make it a place where you want to spend time. Hang your diploma, some photos, banners or inspirational items.

OK, now that you have set-up your private lesson studio, it is time to “hit the streets” and get some gigs. Over the years, the stress has been placed on playing the most incredibly difficult four mallet marimba solo or SD etude. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is very important to learn these pieces for listening, developing musicality and stretching your technical ability, but if you can’t play V-I (in tune) on a timpani or play a suspended cymbal roll properly, it won’t matter how well you can play “Merlin,” you will be sitting at home wondering why the phone isn’t ringing. If I look back at the last 10 symphonic/chamber/church gigs that I have played, I haven’t touched a marimba and I would venture a guess that this is true for most of our members in the community. (Note: I am not counting any University related performance. I am talking about professional, paid gigs).

With that being said, here’s my list of a couple suggestions for succeeding on your next gig:

AKA “It is important to know how to…”
1) …play V-I on timpani in all keys
2) …play cymbal rolls in the correct place (from one phrase to another, at a key change or at the climax of a piece)
3) …play steady time with a shaker
4) …play some grooves on congas or djembe
5) …know some basic “Rock and Roll” tambourine technique (especially for a church gig)

Lastly, I think it is important to own good equipment. I know it is difficult to go out and buy the most expensive equipment while you are in college, but I would recommend that you start early and try to accumulate equipment as soon as possible. Remember that birthdays and holidays are good times to ask for equipment. A good “starter” list would include:

1) Tambourine
2) Triangle and Beaters
3) Good Mallets (Showing up on a timpani gig with mallets that look like they are falling apart is not a good idea)
4) Suspended Cymbal (17″ – 19″) and Stand (with felts, washers and plastic sleeve)
5) Djembe or Congas

These lists are in no particular order. Am I forgetting something? What do you recommend to your students? Leave a comment below.

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Originally posted on DrumChattr.com on April 19, 2011.

Technology Article

For more information about the Percussive Arts Society, please visit their website. PAS is an international society of percussionists and if you play drums, you should be a member of this great organization.