BBC Young Musician 2014

[Thropplenoggin]

Not all instruments really lend themselves to a solo career do they. (?)

I can't imagine I'll be tuning in for the percussionists this week.

[MrGongGong]

I can't imagine I'll be tuning in for the percussionists this week.

Why not ?

[Sir Velo]

I haven't really followed this competition over the years. Do the winners (or finalists) always fulfill their early promise with illustrious careers ? Is the aim of the competition to find the soloists of the future ? Not all instruments really lend themselves to a solo career do they. (?)

Wiki lists all the finalists since the competition began. Approximately 2 or 3 (out of 25) from each class have their own separate Wiki entries, giving an indication of a fairly successful solo career. Previous winners (overall or in category) include Emma Johnson, Nick Daniel; Michael Collins; Nicky Benedetti; Ben Grosvenor; Freddy Kempf; Natalie Clein; David Pyatt; Paul Watkins; Jennifer Pike. Interestingly, neither of the two judges from the strings final were winners in their respective categories.

[Pabmusic]

Why not ?

There is a problem with percussion, which is that the repertoire is so very limited, particularly in time. There's really not a lot of solo music that dates from more that (say) 50 years ago. And it almost inevitably requires tuned percussion, so that it becomes a question of who can play a flashy xylophone/glockenspiel piece originally written for Evelyn G. better than a flashy marimba/glockenspiel piece written for Evelyn G. Or perhaps the emphasis this year is on the East, so pseudo-gamelan or Japanese music prevails.

It's difficult to know what to do with percussion. But it's difficult to give it equal prominence, even against brass.

And I am (or was, before a stroke) a percussionist.

[MrGongGong]

It's difficult to know what to do with percussion.

I'd usually hit it ?

(Though I did make a rather nice barbecue out of an old steel pan)

I know what you mean
but one of the significant things in music in the last century has been the development of the solo percussion repertoire
(and not just Evelyn G )

Would be good to have gamelan BUT that (to go all Chris Small for a moment) would call into question the whole basis for the solo performer fetish that is so central to Western Art Music.

[Pabmusic]

I'd usually hit it ? ...

It's really not too difficult to miss. Done that before.

You're right, though. Perhaps we're in a situation analagous to the development of the clarinet about 1800. In 100 years there'll be no problem.

[MrGongGong]

It's really not too difficult to miss. Done that before.

I once hired a huge Tam Tam for a project performance with a group of 10 year olds in a big venue
We decided that the smallest child should play it at the end of the piece
but, even after a run up, she missed it even though it was twice as big as she was
and then there was the time that the revolving one in Magnus Lindbergs KRAFT fell off it's stand onto the heads of the folks in the stalls in the RFH ouch indeed

[Bryn]

I once hired a huge Tam Tam for a project performance with a group of 10 year olds in a big venue
We decided that the smallest child should play it at the end of the piece
but, even after a run up, she missed it even though it was twice as big as she was
and then there was the time that the revolving one in Magnus Lindbergs KRAFT fell off it's stand onto the heads of the folks in the stalls in the RFH ouch indeed

Hmm, re. Lindberg's KRAFT, did Kraft also perchance write a LINDBERG?

[mercia]

Not all instruments really lend themselves to a solo career do they. (?)

I guess what I was implying was that however brilliantly you play your viola or doublebass or tuba in the final you are not likely to win this competition because any potential sort of solo career is unlikely to follow (???) - but I don't suppose I'm the first person to think this

[Ariosto]

I guess what I was implying was that however brilliantly you play your viola or doublebass or tuba in the final you are not likely to win this competition because any potential sort of solo career is unlikely to follow (???) - but I don't suppose I'm the first person to think this

That's why I put me mouf organ and serpent away as I could not manage the Brahms fiddle concerto on either.

[Barbirollians]

I guess what I was implying was that however brilliantly you play your viola or doublebass or tuba in the final you are not likely to win this competition because any potential sort of solo career is unlikely to follow (???) - but I don't suppose I'm the first person to think this

I am not sure that is correct . There is often the difficulty that even with professional judges the concerto repertoire for these instruments ( well less so perhaps for the viola ) is so limited .A tuba player knocking out the elusive VW concerto is going to find it more difficult to impress than a young pianist sizzling their way through saint Saens 2

[Ariosto]

I am not sure that is correct . There is often the difficulty that even with professional judges the concerto repertoire for these instruments ( well less so perhaps for the viola ) is so limited .A tuba player knocking out the elusive VW concerto is going to find it more difficult to impress than a young pianist sizzling their way through saint Saens 2

I may be a lousy cook and fiddler but I've never been guilty of sizzling my way through the first course or the Saint Saens No 2 or the Rondo Cappricioso. I did burn my fingers though once on some Paganini, but that was with Spaggetti in the main course.

[amateur51]

I may be a lousy cook and fiddler but I've never been guilty of sizzling my way through the first course or the Saint Saens No 2 or the Rondo Cappricioso. I did burn my fingers though once on some Paganini, but that was with Spaggetti in the main course.

And you have the nerve to call Schnabel 'a crap piano player'!

[Barbirollians]

I may be a lousy cook and fiddler but I've never been guilty of sizzling my way through the first course or the Saint Saens No 2 or the Rondo Cappricioso. I did burn my fingers though once on some Paganini, but that was with Spaggetti in the main course.

Ivry Gitlis certainly sizzles his way through Saint Saens Violin Concerto No 2

[ardcarp]

So to the percussion. Passing swiftly over the ghastly razz-ma-tazz that seems to be deemed necessary to 'engage' a BBCTV punter these days, I was hugely impressed by the musicianship of all of them. How do you choose a winner? The young lad who won was musically eloquent and drew us in to his performance. I thought the girl (who did a stunning side-drum solo) and the lad from Wells could equally have been chosen...which is why I find something deeply disturbing about the competitive aspect of music. Interesting that Alison Balsam (who never 'won' the YMOTY crown) now has one of the most successful careers in music of any of them.

The marimba still seems to hold sway in the world of percussion, doesn't it?