T’keyah Daley

Percussion Tech Notebook

April 18th 2013

Sticking

Use alternate sticking Alternate between left and right hands

EX:

Sticking for Triplets

EX:

Flam

Like a grace note in percussion Closed Flam (tight flam) marching band Open Flam (farther apart) concert band Flat Flam (not good) both sticks strike at the same time Tiny grace note with a strong accent (good!) Both flams start to match timing or height (bad!)

EX:

Grips

Stevens Grip Burton’s Grip

-Sticks and independent -crossed

-Marimba players -Jazz vibraphonist-2/3 -2/4

- -Sturdier, mallet dampening

-

-Fluidity/internal changes

Timpani----plural Timpani

Biggest drum is 1 Smallest is 4 or 5 Generally 4 or 5 timpani set up American Style- Largest drum on the left German Style- Largest Drum on the right The pitch of each drum goes up a 5th

Drum 1 DA

Drum 2 FC

Drum 3 BbF

Drum 4 DA

*Store timpani with pedal in the middle or all the way up, to keep things in place.

Gauge- helps to know where the pitch is Tuning-tuning fork, pitch pipe Always tune up if possible

Sticks

There are a lot of timpani sticks Ball stick Cartwheel stick Specialty malletswooden stick, roller etc. General mallet Articulate mallets(staccato): smaller version of ball and cartwheel Soft Mallet-larger version of ball and cartwheel

Grips

German-similar to snare drum grip, palm down, fingers on stick French-thumbs is up, fingers off the stick American- thumbs up, fingers on the stick

*Sticks start and end up

Where to strike the timpani

Strike the timpani 1/3 from the edge

*Change the head once a year with active use, every 3-5 years with sporadic use.

Sticking

Do natural sticking unless moving doesn’t facilitate it Avoid cross sticking Choose a sticking, write it down and do it the same way every time.

Rolls

Play even 16th notes

Drumming heights

3inchestaps 9inchesAccents 12inches 16inchesFull out

Diddle=double

EX:

Marimba -Rosewood

-Paduk

-Synthetic

Xylophone

*Avoid the nail, don’t drum over it.

Composition tips

Marimba-double stops sound good, should be rolled for sustain Vibraphone-double stops are good Glockenspiel/bells- Good accents. Metal instruments sound good with metal instruments Wood instruments sound good with wood instruments Check pattern-when you take out the rolls or the diddles

Par-a-diddle

Accent the first beatEX:

Cleaning a Snare Drum

Lugs, lugnuts Rim, hoop Know how to clean and prep a lug casing Lugs should be finger tight, have equal tension on the head Hoop pulls the head over the shell stretching the plastic and pushes against the hoop and

the glue.

Suspended Cymbal

Dome/Bell=dry soundRoll Notation:

Crash Cymbals

Grab strap like a drum stick Off alignment, don’t bring them together, hold one still. A choke is not a hi hat Care and Maintenance-metal on metal is bad.

How to Write Better Pieces

Find a bass line Low marimba Chords

o Xylophoneo Vibraphoneo Marimbao Bells

Melodyo Bellso Xylophoneo Marimbao Vibraphone

Snare rollsBe Careful! Cross voicingUse if necessary Rhythm Tempo and Style Malletsbetween 4ths, 5ths and 6ths Non-melodic notation

o Just make an x Don’t repeat a lot of notes. Make them slower if you have to Stems Tutti rhythms, good. Don’t use ties on “boom, boom” instruments Good writing is one or two constants, then add your accents

Paradiddle diddle

More fun to play

EX:

Marching Snare

Free floating concepto Head rests on metal hoop

The shells are off limits on Tenor Drums

Kevlar Drum heado Has a lot of tension

Play the center of the drum Play towards the edge Do a roll zoning it out Ping shots

*Teach match grip

*Traditional grip=left hand

Why traditional grip?

-Drum core, indoor and college marching band uses it

Notation

Stems are always upEX: =shots = pings shots

Tenor Drums (Quads, Quints, and Sexes)

Heads are Double Ply Should all match and be in tune T it up, Drums 3 and 4

EX:

Notation

Sweeps or Scrapes Split rhythms on drums to make it funky Don’t hit the rims

Bass Drums

Rotate Play as a snare drum Hit drum in the center Muffling the drum with one hand, 4 fingers Rim guards, shreds and breaks without one Heads are muffled on inside

*they have heads with pre-muffling

Notation

5 is preferred, 6 is fine, and 4 is not so good.

Drum line Heights

3innothing 6instaccato 9in 12in Full Out

*Some people write shots like this:

Cymbals

High hats

Marching Band Percussion

Burton’s grip better for younger students Easier to control

Flam Accents

Drag-add a diddle after an accent Flam accents with drags=flam drag

o

Cheese-

Flam Fives

Ruff is like a flam but with a double strokeo

Triangle

A good triangle is going to cover a lot of overtones Take a triangle clip and clip it onto a high stand The beater should ring in your hand Sizes

o 4in (more delicate)o 6ino 8ino 10ino 12in

Fingers are used to muffle

Tambourine

Tambour means drum Thumb roll needs wax on the head Hit on the rim, towards the center Rolls can have a definite start or stop Can be hit with drum sticks Jingles made from silver or bronze

Can be reheaded