A Percussionist's Notebook

 I was caught off guard, I didn't realize that we even had a National Dog Day. I made a list of most of the dogs in my life. Bumba: The first year that we lived in the country my brother and I got a Collie/Shepherd mix. Unfortunately she died after 1 year from distemper. Somewhere I have a picture of her but I can't find it. She was the best dog I ever had. Bambi: The following year we got Bambi, another Collie/Shepherd mix. I always joke about being raised by wolves. Bambi was that wolf. I was in 4th grade when we got her and she saw me off to the army when I was 21. She was the best dog I ever had. Bambi Heidi: When I was in the Army Band in Colorado we got a Great Pyrenees and named her Heidi. My wife was in very poor health during that time and Heidi became totally attached to her. She was the best dog I ever had. Heidi Scruffy: Another Collie/Shepherd mix. My brother got Scruffy when he was in the Army but gave him to our parents when he was transferred. Since we lived in ...

 I react to a popped flam like a vampire reacts to garlic. It has the same affect as when a wind player plays a B♭ when they are supposed to play a B𝄮.  A flam played correctly is a primary note preceded immediately by a grace note. The grace note is played softer than the primary and in theory doesn't have a time value.  Right Flam as written and played When played correctly, a flam has two distinct sounds. A popped flam happens when both sticks strike the drum at the same time. Popped Flam as played Imagine throwing a rock into a pond. When it strikes the water, ripples travel outward in circles. If two rocks are thrown at the same time, each produces its own set of ripples. When those two sets of ripples meet they cancel each other out. By replacing ripples in the water with sound waves in the air you get the same effect. The difference is when the sound waves intersect this immediate cancellation is so abrupt that it gives a popping or choked sound. A single tap on a...

 Everyone has an opinion for their 'go to' or 'default' triangle and many hours can be spent arguing about them. When the Alan Abel triangle was first introduced it was considered one of the best on the market. Over the years companies started to focus on making different sizes, designs and metals. This has raised the standard for the quality of sound while increasing the confusion over what a 'good sound' is. This has caused the Abel triangle to be shunned by many people, the most common reason is it's purity of sound.   The triangle sound should not produce a specific pitch, it's shimmering quality is what makes it stand out from the rest of the instruments. This 'shimmering' is caused by the many different overtones as it vibrates. So for this discussion I'm using a standard 6" Alan Abel triangle keeping in mind that no 2 triangles regardless of make or model will sound exactly the same. The first 'default' position that band ...

 Since I spoke about the issue of addressing the drum with the stick, I should talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the grips.  THE TRADITIONAL GRIP When the drum is tilted to the right (either field drum or concert drum) using the traditional grip would be a good choice. The angle of attack for the left hand is correct and the right arm just needs to lower a bit. Even if the drum is level, by bringing the left elbow in and rotating the palm in a more vertical position the angle of attack can be corrected. There are disadvantages: The traditional grip for the left hand is inherently unnatural. This would cause unnecessary stress on the muscles. Bending the elbow in and twisting the palm vertical only exacerbates the problem. Playing multiple percussion complicates things. If the drum is tilted and the other instruments (wood block, cow bell, etc.) aren't then the elbow and palm are constantly changing positions to accommodate the angle of attack. The grips for Timpan...

 Since I spoke about grip in my National Left Hand Day I feel I should begin with the snare drum grip. Any discussion about grip should begin with the relationship between the stick's stroke and the plane of the drum's surface.   Newton's first law of motion states: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." In a perfect world the bead of the stick will strike the drum head at a 90° angle and rebound at that same 90° angle giving it maximum energy. However the stick scribes an arc in it's movement to and from the drum since the wrist rotates to create the stroke. This means the bead of the stick is forced to rebound from the plane of the drum surface at an oblique angle. Therefore it's important to reduce this angle by keeping the stick parallel to the drum surface as much as possible. By reducing this angle of attack the drummer can recycle this rebound energy for the following strokes.                   ...

 After last year's catastrophic attempt at my chokecherry shrub I decided for some jelly this year. My plan was to give the cherries that I picked and give them to my neighbor. Since I am not set up to do canning myself this was a good choice. Unfortunately our neighbor went on an extended camping trip the day before I did the picking so that didn't work. But.... a friend mentioned that she was using her grandmother's stuff to do her canning. Two bags of cleaned and washed cherries went to her house and 3 jars of jelly returned. I would include a pic of the jelly but you can Google a pic of home made jelly and look at it...they all look the same. This jelly retained enough of the chokecherry tartness with the perfect amount of sweetness. Thank you Marsha! Good bye shrub experiment I have found my jelly source from now on.

 I guess there is a day for everything. But since I am left handed (mostly) it has more importance. I say 'mostly' because I write with my left hand and eat with my left hand (using a fork or spoon even though I was raised by wolves) but I throw with my right hand. I think this contradiction comes from my brother who is a real lefty, he taught me to write before I started school and I just copied him when we ate our meals. The point being is this has affected me all of my life not only as a daily occurrence but as a bicycle mechanic and a percussionist. Sinistral, Sinistro, Sinister, these are all words associated with the left hand. They also imply something dark, mean, evil, wrong. As a bike mechanic I had to endure the insult when I installed some pedals on bikes, many European pedals were marked with a 'D' destra meaning right or 'S' sinistro meaning left. Both of these words are Italian with their roots in Latin, Right means good, Left means bad! 'Clock...

 I have always enjoyed maps and orienteering, particularly when backpacking and especially when going off trail. Since so many of our trips involved exploring prehistoric Native American sites and photographing petroglyphs, reading and using a map and compass gave us the freedom to see so much more than just staying on a given trail. Some of the National Parks require staying on designated trails for personal safety and/or protecting the environment, but many other places have fewer restrictions. When GPS became available I purchased a Garmin handheld device to record my trips and record specific sites (petroglyph panels, rock shelters). This was a tremendous advantage since I was able to locate these sites on a topo map for future visits. With Garmin's system I found that I was always having to purchase software whenever I had to upgrade computers (Windows Vista, Windows 10) or use my Mac. Recently I found an app that I could use on my phone that would sync to any of my computers....

When I first started teaching I had one very big problem: I had difficulty watching my student's sticking and remembering that my Left was their Right. Developing a curriculum wasn't a problem since I applied the same order that my brother had taught me. Over the years I added more literature, extended techniques, and included Timpani, Mallets, and Accessories in my teaching. I evolved as a teacher. I found that the act of teaching sometimes included being a mentor that created a bond that lasted years with many of my students. Then came Covid-19, the first thing I noticed with our isolated teaching was the difficulty of watching and listening to their playing over Skype, Zoom, or any of the other videos. I couldn't sync (in my mind) the audio and video during the lesson. It was like starting my teaching career all over again. Dealing with the 'Sync' problem took about a week of lessons when I learned to accept the limitations of the technology and develop a differe...