I had a number of interesting and enjoyable tours during the first months of 2009. On January 9 and 10, I was in Minneapolis for the Minnesota Day of Percussion held at Anoka High School. This was a splendidly run and densely packed day of concerts and workshops. I presented both snare drum and cymbal workshops, and then performed with …
Click HERE to download a press release about my new book: Rudimental Arithmetic - A Drummer’s Study of Pattern and Rhythm. It’s available now from Keyboard Percussion Publications as well as other retailers. Click HERE to read Mark Ford’s recent review in Percussive Notes (April, 2009).
The book was in progress for several years and has been a real adventure for me to write. Somebody once said: “There are only two kinds of math books - those you cannot read beyond the first page, and those you cannot read beyond the first sentence.” That statement may ring true for many people, and yet Albert Einstein also said: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler!”
Over the past decade I have attended dozens of clinics and masterclasses aimed at explaining methods for preparing orchestral percussion audition repertoire, and describing techniques for succeeding in an audition environment. I have also read numerous articles in percussion magazines, and viewed several educational DVDs addressing the same issues. Furthermore, professional performers (including myself) and educators regularly present workshops focusing on specific percussion instruments used in concert bands and symphony orchestras. In these presentations the same group of short musical excerpts is generally used for demonstration.
I am often asked the meaning of the word nexus. It is from a Latin root meaning “tie”, and basically indicates a connection or bond among the members of a group or series. Some of us came across this term in the early 1970s while reading Harry Partch’s intriguing book Genesis of a Music. Harry used the technical term “numerary nexus” in connection with a complex system of ratios from which he derived his 43 tone scale. Although we couldn’t completely understand Partch’s theories, we liked the sound and general meaning of the word. It also looks good as a logo and is easy to remember.
December 7, 2008
The past three weeks have been almost non-stop travel, beginning with a concert at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMOCA) in Williamstown, MA and ending at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, AK. In between, was a solid week of workshops, clinics and concerts in southern Michigan, including stops at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, …
This year will see the ninth annual Bob Becker Ragtime Xylophone Institute held at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE. Last summer we moved to the new Music Building, with its large performance/lecture room and lovely recital hall. UDel has a great infrastructure for summer programs like ours, and there …
