Today Janis Potter came to the percussion departmental. She played in the President's Own U.S. Marine Band as a soloist for five years and got both of her degrees at Juilliard, she knows her stuff. She came in and played some pretty crazy stuff and made it look easy, just like everyone else.
But her message was a little different from the first two master classes I went to. Kenny Washington, a set player, told us to study and listen to the drumset players of the past to understand why they played so you can use their knowledge in your own playing, since improv is mostly pulled licks, rudiments and transitions anyways. Brian del Signore, an orchestral percussionist, well, his life is listen to the people of the past and mimicking their sound, he has to be meticulous and precise to achieve his perfect sound and to get paid.
Janis talked about adding yourself into the music you play. Sometimes what's on the page is the composer being lazy or rushed, or sometimes the composer can't express the proper way to play a note with a certain notehead or technique. She taught us more advanced marimba techniques to communicate or express ideas differently than with normal marimba technique.
- The Piano Roll - Striking a note and letting it resonate before rolling, catching a certain overtone like on a timpani roll. The effect we're striving for is the sound of a piano; struck once but sustained for a while.
- The mallet shaft - You can play with the shaft of the mallets on the bars. The farther up the shaft towards the mallet head creates a fuller, more bodied sound with more of the fundamental, while the closer to the shaft makes a brighter, lighter, less bodies sound. Try it.
- The marimshot - Like a snare drum rim shot just on a mallet instrument. Much more difficult with two mallets in a hand.
- The gravity stroke - Completely relax your arms and let the mallets fall as if they were just falling, not even in your hands. This is normal, mezzo forte.
- The power stroke - Utilize your body while using the gravity stroke, lower your hips instead of straining your wrists.
- Dampening - pressing the mallets on the bar as part of the stroke for a full dampen, leaving the mallets on the bar for a half dampen, and lightly pushing on the bar after for a quarter.
So. Even though composers don't really write these things in solos, they're still useful for creating effects. The piano roll really does sound like a piano, and the mallet shaft sounds like playing wood or bamboo, power stroke can sound like bombs or cannons, and dampening can give more clarity than usual on a marimba. Use the creative tools you discover to enhance your playing, even if no one tells you to.
Okay, back with me non-percussionists. That's the beautiful thing about a solo. It doesn't always have to be specifically the phrasing or dynamic stated, you're more than welcome to phrase for yourself, it's music. Make the piece your own. Add a slide, a fall, a grace note, mix up articulations, play around with harmonics, anything and everything. Get to know everything you can do on your instrument, and make all the possibilities sound good.
For all of the non-musical people out there, you can still be expressive and make something your own. Give the paper you write a voice that sounds like you, not a computer or an average person. Cook without a recipe. There are plenty of things in life that don't have specific, explicit instructions, and it's then that we as human beings can truly exploit our gifts to their fullest potential.
M
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