Percussion Crossroads by Al Payson
Hooray! I've completed an elementary snare drum course. So, what's next?
Following is a handout I give students who have just completed, or are about to complete, an elementary snare drum course. It is also intended to be read by the parents, so they and their child can sit down together and discuss alternatives and then make as informed a decision as possible as to the next course of study.
Choosing Courses of Study in Percussion
The most common "starter" instrument for percussionists is the snare drum. And when a student has successfully completed an elementary snare drum course he will be at a crossroad from which he can proceed along five avenues to becoming a full-fledged percussionist. What are those avenues, or courses of study? And is there a particular order in which they should be undertaken?
To answer the first question, the avenues are:
1. Intermediate snare drum. This would include the study of both reading skills and technical skills necessary for performing with a concert band or orchestra, as well as the techniques necessary for performing with a marching band or drum-and-bugle corps. This area might also include study of some of the concert "accessory" instruments, such as bass drum, cymbals, tambourine and triangle.
2. Mallet-keyboard instruments. This includes xylophone, bells, marimba and vibraphone.
3. Timpani.
4. Drumset.
5. Ethnic instruments. The most common ethnic instruments are those of Latin America (conga, bongos, timbales, etc.). Also, depending on the student's musical interests and what music, dance or entertainment groups are active in his or her area, the student might want to learn to play, for example, the jembe (Africa) or the bodhran (Ireland).
As to the question of the order in which they should be studied, the answer is that there is no set recommended order. However, following is some information designed to help students and their parents make as informed a decision as possible.
Most students wish to put their hard-earned skills to use in a performing music group. This is good, because it gives those students an immediate and ongoing sense of purpose, which in turn energizes them and gives them incentive to improve and go forward in their studies. So what performance opportunities are available in the above five courses of study? The following chart shows where each can be utilized in music groups in junior high school, senior high school, and the community.
Performance Opportunities in Percussion
* This means performing a solo with a band, orchestra or some other group, before an audience. It does not mean performing a solo in contest before a judge, which can be done on many different percussion instruments.
** Some high schools also field "drum & bugle corps-style" marching units.
Following are brief comments on the 5 courses of study:
1. Intermediate/advanced snare drum. One should understand that for advanced junior high school bands, elementary-level snare drumming is not sufficient to meet the demands of many snare drum parts.
2. Mallet-keyboard instruments. It might be noted that the marimba and vibraphone can be used as stand-alone solo instruments. That is, like the piano and harp, they do not require accompaniment. Thus they are suitable for performing at a variety of occasions such as women's club luncheons, church functions, variety shows, etc. There exists a huge repertory of unaccompanied (as well as accompanied) works at all levels of difficulty. Studying mallet-keyboard instruments is also an excellent precursor to studying timpani.
3. Timpani. For most students, the most difficult aspect of playing timpani is tuning. Therefore, it is much more efficient to precede timpani study with mallet-keyboard study, where one learns keys, scales, intervals, etc.
4. Drumset. This is the most glamorous, high-visibility percussion instrument. So it is not surprising that at least 80 percent of students want to proceed on to the drumset immediately following an elementary snare drum course.
This is fine, but what many fail to realize is that the drumset offers the fewest performance opportunities (see chart). For example, there is only one drumset player in the stage band as opposed to 5 or 6 percussionists in the concert/marching band, so the selection process is much more stringent. And even if the director alternates between, say, three drumset players, that means each of them is just sitting two-thirds of the time. This is not to imply that one should not study drumset; it merely suggests that students might consider these points when choosing the order in which to proceed with their studies.
5. Ethnic instruments. Many are surprised this category provides so many performance opportunities (see chart). A word of caution: many of the instruments, such as the claves, maracas and guiro, are easy enough to play that no formal course of study is required. This has led many students to assume that no formal training is required on any of the ethnic instruments. Actually, it should be realized that some of them, such as the conga, bodhran and dumbek, require an extensive course of study from someone well versed in the art.
Regardless of the order of the avenues students choose, they can eventually follow all of them, allowing them to take full advantage–not just in the immediate future but in the distant future as well–of all that is offered in the wonderfully diverse world of music.
Al Payson is a retired percussionist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for 40 years, and is an elected member of the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame. He has many instructional materials in publication, including Beginning Snare Drum Method.
