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Re: Athletic Percussion

To: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Athletic Percussion
From: Nigel.Horne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 08:25:24 +0000
Priority: low
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sender: "Nigel Horne" <Nigel.Horne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

This is correct. When rehearsing a piece of music the percussion section do need
to take time to choreograph where they're to be and when, and where the
instruments will be. Of course the instruments will need to be in different
places for different pieces, that is to be expected. It's no good if you need to
play the glock. it's 5 yards away and you only have one bar to get to it. This
also explains why a good percussionist will have to commit many bars of music to
memory, they can't afford the time to find where they are when moving from one
stand to another.

When guesting with lower section bands I often find myself having to train the
rest of the section to feel free to move instruments and to think of where they
will need to be in advance. It can sometimes turn into a project management
session.  Weaker conductors often do not understand the needs of a modern
percussion section.

Note to conductors at contests: always wait for the percussion section to be
ready. It doesn't matter if the whistle has gone, (s)he in the box will
understand that percussion takes a long time to set up and that it is even worse
at own choice contests or Blackpool where few instruments are laid on, or if the
timps are out of tune.

-Nigel


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