PERCUSSION FAQS. How Do You Play It?

Page 1 of 5 PERCUSSION FAQS How Do You Play It? History Anything that is hit and produces sound can be termed percussion. Thus hitting two sticks together counts as percussion and as student's undoubtedly know, finding things hit is a relatively simple task. Based upon this, percussion instruments can be dated back to prehistoric cultures. Most percussion history however is associated with military groups. When the Moorish invaded Africa in 700 AD, drums were played. These military drums were the ancestors of the snare drum. The Scots and the Swiss developed the modern snare drum around 1300 AD Near the middle of the 15th century, Turkish military bands added triangles, cymbals and larger drums. Termed "jazinary bands", these instruments were actually used to communicate signals to large

Page 2 of 5 numbers of fighting troops. Cymbals have been around since the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians are referenced in the Bible and the Torah. Ancient Egyptian cymbals were smaller than those used today and were used primarily by "dancing" girls, if you get my drift. Some current facts about percussion: Percussion instruments can be divided into 2 categories: definite pitch and indefinite pitch or as Cecil Forsyth claims: "musical" and "unmusical" respectively. For our purposes, percussion shall refer to indefinite pitch percussion and keyboard percussion (see keyboard percussion page) shall refer to pitched percussion. The primary unmusical, eh indefinite pitch percussion instruments are the snare drum (a.k.a.: side or military drum), tenor drum, tom-toms (timbales), high-hat cymbals, mounted crash cymbals and suspended cymbal. In popular music and in jazz (and increasingly in the concert band), these aforementioned instruments are put together to form a drum set. However, beginning percussionist start out on snare drum (and bass drum) as it is the most difficult and most percussion techniques derive from learning it. Other indefinite pitch percussion instruments which the serious percussion player may someday have to learn include: anvil, bongos, castanets, claves, gong, guiro, maracas, rattle, sleigh bells, tambourine, temple blocks, triangle, whip, cabassa, cowbell, maracas, congas, hand held crash cymbals, wood block, quijada, vibra slap, slit drum, finger cymbals, Chinese cymbal, piccolo snare drum, tubo, frame drum (tambourine without jingles), Chinese tom-tom, tabla, lion's roar, ratchet, police whistle, bird whistle, duck call, mouth siren, siren, auto horn, thundersheet, sandpaper blocks, wooden; bamboo; metal; glass and shell chimes, wind machine, pistol shot, stones, timpani (kettle drums) (i), cuckoo (ii) and drum machine programming. Nonetheless, it is the drum set that attracts most students to the percussion section as pretty much every style of music uses a drumset (alas, they are now being replaced by drum machines on many R&B/pop recordings). Denise Gagne says that many students think they will be playing drums in a heavy metal band after learning percussion. They might, but it should be noted that a concert band doesn't need more than 5 percussionists, if that many. In fact, most popular music groups only use 1 drummer and 1 percussionist! Some percussion instruments (including drum sets) can be found in concert bands, marching bands, jazz bands and orchestras. Rap, Heavy Metal, R&B, Pop, Reggae, Country, Blues, Gospel, Jazz and pretty

Page 3 of 5 much every other style of music utilize percussion instruments. It should be noted that only students with a strong sense of rhythm need apply as percussionists (see conductor section). An off-beat percussionist can ruin the entire ensemble! Finally, though we shall deal with percussion instruments and keyboard percussion instruments separately, beginning percussionists in the concert band have to learn both simultaneously (thus the beginning player has to learn complicated snare drum patterns, the bass drum and usually orchestra bells). Why? Let's be real. While it may take the wind players, several minutes, hours, days or even weeks to produce their first tone, it only takes half a second for the percussionist to make his first sound and it's always right! Composers: Famous composers who have written music for percussion include George Gershwin, Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones, John Philip Sousa, Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. Musical Pieces featuring percussion: Some famous pieces featuring percussion include: Toy Symphony, 1812 Overture, "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker, Anderson's Sleigh Ride and almost every 20th century song known to man.. Musicians: Some famous percussionists are Eric Darken, Paulinho Da Costa, Susan Evans, Ralph MacDonald, Grady Tate, Dave Carey, Vic Firth, Nathaniel Townsley, III, Cheryl Harper, Peter Erskine, Buddy Rich, Al Payson, Tito Puente, and Shiela E.

Page 4 of 5 That's nice, but about some people we've heard of? The prevalence of percussionists (drummers) in popular music is so enormously vast that it is beyond unnecessary to name drop. Just have students think of their favorite music group, or any group for that matter and you'll find at the least a drummer, if not several drummers and several percussionist. For the sake of argument, the following have utilized auxiliary percussionists in addition to a full set drummers and/or drum machines on recordings and at live performances: Hanson, The Rolling Stones, B.B. King. Wyclef Jean, God's Property, Pantera, Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osborne, Madonna, Bette Midler, Selena, Marc Anthony, India, Van Halen, Hootie and the Blowfish, Snoop Doggy Dog, Puff Daddy, LeAnn Rimes, L.L. Cool J, Garth Brooks, Tony Bennett, Mariah Carey, Dru Hill, Backstreet Boys, Shania Twain, Amy Grant, Monica, Usher, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson..., well you get the idea. They also play: Percussionist may also perform on keyboard percussion and piano. Disgruntled players: Okay, let's be realistic. You are not going to have an unhappy percussionist. Nonetheless, for argument's sake, you can try moving him or her to a different percussion instrument or train him/her on piano. Moving a percussionist to a wind instrument means basically starting from scratch. Of course, any good wind player could move to percussion with ease. -------------- i. Timpani are actually definite pitched instruments. Usually a concert band has 2 or 3, but there can be as many as 5. These are more similar to the snare drum than they are to keyboard percussion which is why they appear in this section. ii. The cuckoo is actually a woodwind instrument, but since flute, clarinet and saxophone players are too dignified to play it, it falls to the percussionist who will play anything. The cuckoo can be heard in Leopald Mozart's "Toy Symphony."