BBC4 Young Musician - percussion

[ardcarp]

I find all sense of judgement flies out of the window faced with percussion players. I hold them all in high admiration for their musicianship, versatility, co-ordinaton and so many other things. It staggers me that for a typical 'scratch' orchestra concert, the percussionist/s will arrive, unload the kitchen eqipment, set it up and with a minimum of advance information from the conductor will be spot on for a dress-rehearsal and performance. I guess the girl who won deserved to...but so did all the others! It seems the marimba has become the touchstone of percussion. It's a great instrument, but could you enter a competition without being an exponent of it? And was this ever thus?

We can expect flummery, but is it too much to hope that the grand semi-final and final on Saturday and Sunday will allow the pieces to run their course?

[DracoM]

Don't hold your breath.
Count the seconds between 'And the winner is........' and the name. Why has this practice become de rigeur?

How percussionists do not lose concentration and bar count in long interludes I do not know. And in terms of judging them, the orchestral context is all, isn't it?

[french frank]

Count the seconds between 'And the winner is........' and the name. Why has this practice become de rigeur?

People seem to love the experience of suspense.

I could never understand (don't know if they still do it) the old "Close your eyes now if you don't want to know the result" thing. Somehow it transfers the importance from the game, the music - even the BaL - to the final result which may be important to participants but I don't share other people's interest in that final stage. [But, yes, I am alone ... ]

[DracoM]

The fair-haired Rayner kid for me was the outstanding all-rounder and showed better than the others about how to play in full context with talented others.

[Pabmusic]

...It seems the marimba has become the touchstone of percussion. It's a great instrument, but could you enter a competition without being an exponent of it? And was this ever thus?...

I don't seem to recall that percussion was a category in the early days of Young Musician. In a way it's understandable, since the repertoire is so limited; and there's almost nothing from earlier than the 1950s. Almost all the repertoire requires tuned percussion, and the marimba is the favourite (I suppose it's because of the sound). Playing the marimba needs pretty well the same techniques as xylophone, vibraphone and glockenspiel.

...It staggers me that for a typical 'scratch' orchestra concert, the percussionist/s will arrive, unload the kitchen eqipment, set it up and with a minimum of advance information from the conductor will be spot on for a dress-rehearsal and performance...

You're lucky to get even a minimum of advance information. One problem is that amateur orchestras don't usually have regular percussionists. Often, booking players is left till the last minute (it never seems as urgent as finding double basses or a second bassoon), and it's sometimes assumed that anyone can play those 'extra' percussion bits. I've certainly worked with 'loan' players from the strings, or the pianist mother of the 2nd oboe in concerts (they've rarely attended any rehearsals, either). The most notable, I think, was a performance of the New World. I was on timps (good part!), but the percussion player was the tuba player! (The New World notoriously requires a tuba for just 14 notes - only 7 of which Dvorak himself wrote.) There is a (reasonably) awkward triangle part in the scherzo and a single, but very exposed, cymbal stroke in the last movement. (Hans Richter once gave a performance with the Halle, where the cymbal player missed the entry. The next time he performed it with the same orchestra, he began the rehearsal with, "Dat becken man...is he dead?") Anyway, in this concert the tuba player was way out of her depth and muddled the scherzo, but she got the cymbal note in the right place, because I helped her. The whole episode was caused by an orchestral committee who regarded 'simple' percussion as something that can be played by anyone, and sorted out at the concert.

...How percussionists do not lose concentration and bar count in long interludes I do not know...

It's not so difficult. I suspect that most percussionists wouldn't be percussionists if they didn't have the sort of minds that could cope with it. It's not only counting bars, but being aware of what is happening everywhere in the music, and how you fit in. It's also planning ahead (though you should have that sorted in advance!) You certainly feel very involved; more so - perhaps - than simply (!) concentrating on one part. Adrian Boult (not a percussionist, of course) said he could begin playing a score in his mind, become distracted by - say - a conversation, and pick up the score again at a later point, as if the music had continued naturally in the meanwhile. It can become a bit like that for percussionists.

[Hornspieler]

It's not so difficult. I suspect that most percussionists wouldn't be percussionists if they didn't have the sort of minds that could cope with it. It's not only counting bars, but being aware of what is happening everywhere in the music, and how you fit in. It's also planning ahead (though you should have that sorted in advance!) You certainly feel very involved; more so - perhaps - than simply (!) concentrating on one part. Adrian Boult (not a percussionist, of course) said he could begin playing a score in his mind, become distracted by - say - a conversation, and pick up the score again at a later point, as if the music had continued naturally in the meanwhile. It can become a bit like that for percussionists.

Sorry, FF, but I can't resist the temptation to lighten the weekend with this extract from my memoires:

THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE(S)

Remember our Elizabethan band? While the Hares (in the guise of viols, shawms and
recorders) raced merrily up and down the diatonic scales, poor old Tambour the Tortoise was
condemned to shamble along the tuneless lower depths with his monotonous tum-ta-ta
tum-ta-ta; but whose was the final triumph?

The tambour - the word simply means drum - is the only instrument of those halcyon days to
survive in the modern orchestra in its original form. Together with its associated percussion
instruments it is actually allowed into the Brass Band! And of course, Military Bands
would be unable to march in time without their Corps of Drums, Dance Bands without a
Rhythm Section would entice very few couples onto the dance floor and our old friends the
Avante Garde composers would actually have to learn a little about basic harmony and
musical discipline.

Percussion are those instruments which are played by striking them, usually with a stick or
beater, but sometimes with the hand or fingers. The range of instruments varies and seems
to be increasing daily. A car is of no use to a percussionist, he needs a van to transport all his
equipment and half an hour to assemble it and set it all up. Just look at this list and remember
that I, not being a percussionist, am unable to name them all:
Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Tenor Drum, Conga Drums, Bongoes, Timbales, Tambourine,
Hand-held Cymbals, High-Hat Cymbals, Suspended Cymbal, Grotals (Tiny cymbals), Wood
Block, Chinese Blocks, Cowbell, Whip, Rattle, Claves, Castanets, Cabassa, Maracas,
Whoopee Whistle, Cuckoo, Nightingale, Anvil, Triangle, Temple Gong ...
... and the pre-tuned instruments:
Xylophone, Vibraphone, Marimba, Glockenspiegel, Tubular Bells, Cymbalum.

The Tympani, or Kettledrums (usually in a set of four) are tunable, as opposed to pre-tuned and
are usually played by a separate player who does nothing else. His sense of pitch must be very
good and he suffers the disadvantage of having to alter the pitch of his drums, according to the
composer's requirements, against the background of what other sounds are coming from the
rest of the orchestra and without anyone but himself hearing what he is doing.

Obviously, most percussionists would not attempt to play all of these instruments, but would
tend mainly to specialise in what was their particular area of expertise, but one man who
could, and did play them all was the late James Blades.

Jimmy, as he was known, might truly be called “Mr Percussion” and, even into his late
eighties, he was in constant demand as both player and lecturer.
His enthusiasm was infectious. His lectures to schoolchildren and music societies were both
exciting and informative and his grand finale, where he used to beat repeatedly on a Chinese
Temple Gong until the very foundations of the building began to tremble was awe-inspiring.

I remember one occasion at Beaconsfield Film Studios in 1955 when we were recording the
music for a film called The Love Match, starring Arthur Askey and Thora Hird.


Before we started the session, the conductor, Muir Matheson, came over to talk to Jimmy,
who happened to be standing near me.

“Jimmy,” he said. “In one scene the Director wants to have the sound of chips frying. He's
tried recording an actual chip pan and it doesn't sound right. Have you got any ideas?”

“Give me until the tea break to think about it.” said Jimmy “I might have something then.”
When the tea break arrived, Jimmy called for a microphone and a polythene bag. Holding the
bag close to the microphone, he rustled the bag between thumb and fingers of both hands.

“Perfect!” shouted the film's Director through the talk-back speakers. “The very sound I
was looking for!”

Unfortunately, not all percussionists are blessed with the same level of intelligence:
A certain dimwitted player whom I will merely identify as “Geoff”, playing with the Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra received a message, passed through the orchestra just before the start of a concert that, in the National Anthem, the conductor only wanted a cymbal clash on the word “Queen”. To most of us, the meaning of that instruction would be obvious - a resounding crash on the last note - but not for our Geoff.

Yes, you've already guessed the result, haven't you?
God save our gracious... CRASH!
Long live our noble ... CRASH!
God save our ... etc.

“Well, that were what t'Gaffer said, weren't it?”

For much of my professional career, I sat directly in front of the Percussion section and I am
now slightly deaf in my right ear as a result. The culprit was not, as might be supposed, the big
gong or the bass drum - it was the suspended cymbal which, when struck repeatedly
produces overtones that can actually cause acute physical pain (and damage) to ones ear
drums.

Inspired by the likes of James Blades, the standard of percussion playing is now very high, but
when I first joined the Bournemouth Orchestra, the two dear old codgers in that department
used to send so many sticks and implements raining down about our heads that I'm sure, if we
had not handed them back, they would have had nothing left to play with by the end of the
concert. I was once moved to ask the Orchestra Manager (jokingly of course) if we could
not perhaps have a safety net draped over the top of the horn section!

HS

Let's hear it for "The Bang Gang"!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I could never understand (don't know if they still do it) the old "Close your eyes now if you don't want to know the result" thing.

Yes, they still do it, though it's all rather pointless as they never give sufficient time to allow the viewer to turn off the sound.

[ardcarp]

since the repertoire is so limited; and there's almost nothing from earlier than the 1950s.

Yes, the repertoire question occurred to me too. There is no Baroque, Classical or Romantic material (that I am aware of anyway). There was mention made of the winner having included her own arrangement of a Chopin etude in her programme, but we didn't get to hear it.

As HS says James Blades was a huge ambassador for percussion, but one must not forget Evelyn Glennie who is still an inspiration to a younger generation and no doubt the reason for the rise of the marimba.

[mangerton]

Hornspieler - Thanks for that interesting post, which revived memories of James Blades, who visited my school in 1965. He told us he recorded the Rank Organisation's gong, but made it clear he did the sound only, not the picture.

[Pabmusic]

..Let's hear it for "The Bang Gang"!

A lovely post. Thank you, HS.

I think we should share with the others the natural incompatibility of timpani and horns. I've arrived at a hall before now to find that the timps have been placed behind the horns! The point being that horns blow backwards, right into the timps, which resonate in sympathy, whilst each beat of the drums sends a shock-wave through the horns that bursts against the players' teeth. And yet, try convincing the concert manager it's a problem!

[salymap]

I love the story of the conductor who, on climbing up to the percussionist at rehearsal to check something,found he was studying a greenhouse catalogue, coverng his percussion part.

[John Skelton]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKTF0o6wYhg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igah0mQ-HLA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CT5nSkePzg&feature=related

[DracoM]

Astonishing Xenakis in first link! Many thanks indeed. Fascinating. Young Perc Musician of the Year - eat your heart out!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It seems the marimba has become the touchstone of percussion. It's a great instrument, but could you enter a competition without being an exponent of it? And was this ever thus?

There seem to be two stages in the history of the "Marimba Coup":
1) In the '70s, Steve Reich's compositions for the superb "keyboard" percussionists in his ensemble.
2) Since c2000, BBC documentary programmes which all include an obligatory sub-Reichian doodling in the background, regardless of the subject matter. 18th Century teapots? Doododiddleiddle, doododiddleiddle. The strange world of Quantum Physics? BiddyBiddypompom, biddybiddypompom. Humpback whales mating? Dom_pedee-bidibby, Dom_pedee-bidibby.
The growth of China as an economic power? Chuggacheegachoogie, chuggacheegachoogie.

[Pabmusic]

Dom_pedee-bidibby, Dom_pedee-bidibby...Chuggacheegachoogie, chuggacheegachoogie.