Tech-Talks — News RSS



Prince Igor's Tambourine Mystery (part 2)

by David Valdés In the previous article we got to know the tambourine part of the “Polovtsian Dances” was written by Glazunov and not by Borodin. We now can pull the thread to try to figure out the meaning of that notation and the technique it entails. Neither the 1888 Belaieff´s score (or any subsequent reprints -Kalmus, Edition Musicus New York…-) nor the particella of “Prince Igor” indicate the meaning of that special notation in the “Polovtsian Dances”. The same happens with the 1890 Belaieff´s score (the only existing edition, now long out of print) and the particella of “Rapsodie Orientale” (the other work by Glazunov featuring that particular notation for tambourine). The latter two neither indicate the meaning of...

Continue reading



Questions To Ask When Learning A Piece Of Music

Unless you have a) learned all the music there is to learn in this world, or b) chosen that you don't want to learn any more music in your lifetime, then learning new music is in your future! As an active performer, I'm constantly learning new music, whether for a duo concert, solo recital, jazz combo gig, orchestra concert, or a number of other possible musical engagements. And as a teacher, I'm constantly guiding students through the process of learning new music. It may be obvious that in order to effectively understand and perform the music we are learning, we must do more than just read notes from a page or screen. But how do we know what more to...

Continue reading



Finding the "Sweet Spot"

Professional percussionists often mark the "sweet spot" on instruments. This "targeting" helps percussionists to consistently sound their best. I have always placed light pencil marks on accessories such as cymbals, woodblocks and even triangles!   Click the image to watch a short video demonstration...

Continue reading



Sistro, Sistri and Sistrum in “Il Barbiere di Seviglia”

It now seems like a tradition; every time “Barber” gets on the music stand, a discussion arises about what sistro, sistri and sistrum mean and what instruments correspond to that nomenclature. I´ll try to clarify this issue, and I´ll begin with a little bit of History. The Ottoman Empire started as one of the many Turk states in Asia Minor (Anatolia) and ended up as a military, commercial, cultural, political and territorial power spread over three continents: Asia (Anatolia, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, part of the Arabian Peninsula…), Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Soudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea…) and Europe (Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania, Moldavia, Russia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia…). It extended in time...

Continue reading