Tambourine in “Polovtsian Dances”: authorship, notation and technique (and II). Last Saturday, the second and last part of my article “Prince´s Igor Tambourine Mystery (part 2)” was published on the GroverPro website. You can read it HERE. © Grover Pro Percussion Did you know about this very specific technique? Stay tuned, as future articles will… Continue reading Tambourine in “Polovtsian Dances”: authorship, notation and technique (and II)
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Tambourine in “Polovtsian Dances”: authorship, notation and technique (I)
Tambourine in “Polovtsian Dances”: authorship, notation and technique. Last Wednesday, my article “Prince´s Igor Tambourine Mystery (part 1)” was published on the Grover Pro website. You can read it HERE. © Grover Pro Percussion A second article showing the peculiar technique used in dances #8 and #17 will soon be published. …et in… Continue reading Tambourine in “Polovtsian Dances”: authorship, notation and technique (I)
My home-made Renaissance drum
My home-made Renaissance drum. A side drum is an ancient kind of large drum that was used in Europe by the landsknechts, mercenaries from the German area. Said troops fought on the side of the highest bidder, and they even were part of the Spanish infantry under emperor Carlos I. Said drum was played… Continue reading My home-made Renaissance drum
Converting a floor tom into a tenor drum
Converting a floor tom into a tenor dum. This project started with a 16″x16″ floor tom. It was a Mapex Pro-M drum, so a very decent one. The interior of the shell was in immaculate state and the bearing edges were perfect, so it was time for a conversion of this nice drum. © David… Continue reading Converting a floor tom into a tenor drum
Making my own Renaissance long drum
Making my own Renaissance long drum. I always wanted a large drum like that owned by my dear colleague Manolo Durán. © David Valdés His drum has been used by the Oviedo Opera Foundation, by the Asturias Symphony Orchestra in several early music programs. I wanted one like his, but stablished brands do not offer… Continue reading Making my own Renaissance long drum
A solution for Premier 632 strainers and similar ones
A solution for Premier 632 strainers and similar ones. I bet that many of you, like me, own Premier snare drums featuring the classic #632 snare strainer. ©Musikk-miljo.no Other brands feature this kind of holed plate too (like Ludwig), and I can see why you may end up hating this piece of gear, as attaching… Continue reading A solution for Premier 632 strainers and similar ones
More on cymbals and Russian notation
More on cymbals and Russian notation. Last week I wrote THIS article. While researching on another issue which I will write about soon, I found more music that proves my previous article; namely, that “+” means suspended cymbal played with a soft stick and “o” means cymbals “a 2”. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the opera-ballet “Mlada”. Its third… Continue reading More on cymbals and Russian notation
Cymbals and their notation in the Russian tradition
Cymbals and their notation in the Russian tradition. If you have ever played cymbals in works from the Russian repertoire (specially from the late 19th-century and the first half of the 20th-century), you may have seen the following symbols: “+” and “o”. They have been driving percussionists mad for a very long time, but this… Continue reading Cymbals and their notation in the Russian tradition
Home-made “Baguettes d´éponge”
Home-made “Baguettes d´éponge”. 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… Continue reading Home-made “Baguettes d´éponge”
Home-made (“DIY”) Turkish crescent
Home-made (“DIY”) Turkish crescent. As you already know, I am really interested in historical percussion and performance. I have always wanted to make a Turkish crescent to play early music, so I finally jumped into it and made my own jingle Johny. Before we get into the specific making-process, I would like to introduce you… Continue reading Home-made (“DIY”) Turkish crescent