Berlioz was a composer who showed a real interest in percussion and greatly contributed to its development. Trying to improve the timpani sound, he advocated the use of different types of sticks to enrich the color palette produced by these instruments. One of the types of stick that he indicated was “baguettes d´éponge” (“sponge sticks”). Because I was playing his “Symphonie Fantastique” again, I found no better oportunity to make my own.
The sponge species used at the time was of the “elephant ear” type (“Spongia Agaricina”), abundant in the Mediterranean Sea, but as I needed the stick quite urgently, I could not allow myself to be historically accurate. I resorted, then, to a fiber-made sponge. I cut it into two slices and got a couple of circular pads from them, which I used to cover the wooden heads.
I added two wooden balls to the bamboo shafts, which I covered with the sponge discs
I also added some red thread to make them look better.
What sticks have you used when the composer asks for sponge ones?, would you try real sponge-sticks?
…et in Arcadia ego.
© David Valdés