Posts By: Russell Hartenberger

Facility on snare drum is at the foundation of much percussion playing in Western music, and young players often begin their percussion studies learning the rudiments of snare drum. When I taught percussion at the University of Toronto, I encouraged the first-year students to spend a large portion of their practice time on snare drum…. Read more »

  In 1997-98, I conducted a series of interviews with percussionists to discuss their thoughts on rhythm. The following is an excerpt from my interview with John Wyre (1941-2006) that took place on December 15, 1997 in Birmingham, England where Nexus was performing the Takemitsu percussion concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.  … Read more »

  In 1997-98, I conducted a series of interviews with percussionists to discuss their thoughts on rhythm. The following is an excerpt from my interview with Sharda Sahai (1935-2011) that took place on December 12, 1997 in Southall, London, England.   Teaching Time Feel RH        When you teach students tabla in a… Read more »

In 1997-98, I conducted a series of interviews with percussionists to discuss their thoughts on rhythm. The following is an excerpt from my interview with Bob Becker that took place on February 6, 1998 while Nexus was on tour in Des Moines, IA.   Early Rhythmic Study RH      How did you develop an accurate sense… Read more »

In 1997-98, I conducted a series of interviews with percussionists to discuss their thoughts on rhythm. The following is an excerpt from my interview with Alan Abel that took place on March 29, 1998 in Wynnewood, PA. RH       How did you develop an accurate sense of time? AA      When I was really young,… Read more »

In the early days of Nexus, our concerts were totally improvised featuring many non-Western percussion instruments that we collected. John Wyre was an influence on all of us as he brought instruments from his travels to Asia to our improv sessions. I began scouring antique stores, import shops, and yard sales and discovered a few… Read more »

I have known Alan and Janet Abel for sixty-four years and every one of those years has been a blessing. Like so many others, I feel like they are my “second parents,” so the loss of Mr. Abel is much like losing a member of my own family. This story is a small tribute to… Read more »

In 1960, I was a student in the tenth grade at Putnam City High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. My English teacher, Mrs. Thomas, gave our class an assignment to research the occupation that each of us hoped to pursue and write an essay about it. She gave us a list of questions to use… Read more »

On November 8, 2017, I was presented with the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts which is conferred by the World Cultural Council (WCC). The award ceremony was held at Leiden University in the Netherlands and many dignitaries were in attendance including Sabine Nölke, Canadian Ambassador to the Netherlands. The World Cultural Council is… Read more »

On October 3, 2016, Steve Reich celebrated his 80th birthday. This festive occasion was the catalyst for a year-long tribute to the man who has been acclaimed as “our greatest living composer” (New York Times) and “the most original musical thinker of our times” (The New Yorker). A quick glance at the concert section of… Read more »

In July, while I was in St. John’s, Newfoundland participating in Sound Symposium, I was interviewed by Ken Shorley for his Canadian Percussionists. You can see the interview here: All of Ken’s interviews with Canadian Percussionists can be viewed here:

Percussive Notes recently published my article about the making of The Cambridge Companion to Percussion. 

Here is a blogpost I made on the Cambridge University Press site.  Check it out HERE.

Click the link below to download my article about John Cage from the September 2012 issue of Percussive Notes. Encounters with John Cage

Dosa, Sambar, Indian coffee, and badam kheer; Ta Di Thom Num, moras, teermanams, and korvai ; humility, warmth, caring, and love.  These are all enduring memories I have of the beloved Ramnad V. Raghavan.  Raghavan passed away last week in Chennai, India at the age of 82. He taught mrdangam and South Indian music at… Read more »