Switching Instruments
Yesterday a few percussionists in the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony (CYWS) weren't able to be there so the section was short a few players. How does that relate to me? I got to fill in on percussion!
Besides trying a few (terrible) attempts at some basic beats on Sasso's or the Valleau's drum sets before, I have never played any percussion before (not including my tambourine - may it rest in peace). So this was a totally new experience for me.
I started out playing a song on bass drum. That wasn't bad at all, I had fun getting into the various dynamic markings throughout the song. 36 measures of playing constantly on beats 1 and 3 did get boring though. After that I got to play the vibes on another piece. I always figured mallet percussion were hard, but had no idea how hard until I tried. I didn't do awful, but I did have some trouble keeping the mallets an octave apart during some descending octave sections. I did manage to hit a four-note chord however (granted I had about 20 measures of rest to prepare for it)! In addition to those, I got to play a little bit of some smaller parts on the tam-tam/gong and other instruments as well. Overall I had a great time and I considered it to be one of my favorite CYWS rehearsals ever.
Besides trying a few (terrible) attempts at some basic beats on Sasso's or the Valleau's drum sets before, I have never played any percussion before (not including my tambourine - may it rest in peace). So this was a totally new experience for me.
I started out playing a song on bass drum. That wasn't bad at all, I had fun getting into the various dynamic markings throughout the song. 36 measures of playing constantly on beats 1 and 3 did get boring though. After that I got to play the vibes on another piece. I always figured mallet percussion were hard, but had no idea how hard until I tried. I didn't do awful, but I did have some trouble keeping the mallets an octave apart during some descending octave sections. I did manage to hit a four-note chord however (granted I had about 20 measures of rest to prepare for it)! In addition to those, I got to play a little bit of some smaller parts on the tam-tam/gong and other instruments as well. Overall I had a great time and I considered it to be one of my favorite CYWS rehearsals ever.
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