David Valdés

Bowings and stickings: “The Miller´s Dance”.

Bowings and stickings: “The Miller´s Dance” Last November 16, Grover PRO published a video on which I stablish a relationship between the bow strokes on the string instruments and the stickings on the snare drum.   I am using Falla´s “The Miller´s Dance” (from “The Three Cornered Hat”) to show what I do to phrase… Continue reading Bowings and stickings: “The Miller´s Dance”.

“Lieutenant Kije” and a peculiar tambourine technique

Lieutenant Kijé and a peculiar tambourine technique. On January 2, a new article of mine was published on the Grover Pro Percussion website. © Grover Pro Percussion Dealing with the very specific tambourine technique requested by Prokofiev in “Troika”, you can read it HERE. Tambourine part in “Troika”.     …et in Arcadia ego. ©… Continue reading “Lieutenant Kije” and a peculiar tambourine technique

Tambourine in “Polovtsian Dances”: authorship, notation and technique (and II)

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)

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)

The New Year’s concert, the “Österreichische locke” and tradition on snare drum

The New Year’s concert, the “Österreichische locke” and tradition on snare drum With the New Year´s Concert still fresh, today I´d like to write about something we all like: the snare drum “solo” preceding the traditional “Radetzky March”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhEGMSOIptw Here you have the snare drum part. Apart from some misprints here and there, which can… Continue reading The New Year’s concert, the “Österreichische locke” and tradition on snare drum

Various stickings for “Scheherezade”.

Various stickings for “Scheherezade” Sometime ago I showed you a one-handed way to play the third movement of “Scheherezade”. That article was “Snare drum technique. One-handed Scheherezade”. © Grover Pro Percussion After recording that video I tried a few stickings to play that excerpt. You can see the result here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lryhSytw26g These are the different… Continue reading Various stickings for “Scheherezade”.

Snare drum technique. One-handed “Scheherezade”

Snare drum technique. One-handed “Scheherezade” Some weeks ago I saw an interesting video by Tony Ames (principal percussion with the National Symphony Orchestra) on which he can be seen playing the famous snare drum excerpt from the third movement of “Scheherezade” (N. Rimsky-korsakov) using just one hand. You know that I always try anything that leads… Continue reading Snare drum technique. One-handed “Scheherezade”

Snare drum technique. The roll.

Snare drum technique. The roll The roll is, probably, the most characteristic and idiomatic of all of the snare drum techniques. Isolately played on a snare drum, a 64th-note lasts exactly the same as a whole note. Because percussionists do not have an air column or a bow allowing us to play long notes on a… Continue reading Snare drum technique. The roll.