Anthony Cirone was killing me.

I had dusted off my snare drum and cracked open the acclaimed percussionist’s music book, Portraits in Rhythm, to Etude 1.

In this short study, Mr. Cirone introduces a theme and develops it later with some twists, turns and ornamentation. One passage is particularly tough as it combines speed and syncopation with a drum rudiment called a flam.

I slowed that passage down and ran through it a bunch of times. I was essentially sight-reading the piece at a slower tempo, but parts of it were getting easier. I could appreciate the piece’s musicality, force and whimsy. For a change of pace, I took a few minutes to tackle the second etude, which introduced a 3/4 time signature. Like Etude 1, it also starts simply but soon takes some tricky turns. Damn!

I glanced ahead in the book a few pages and was intimidated. The complexity of many of the studies made me feel like Super Mario. I was about to journey through a changing and sometimes hostile landscape, leaping over deep chasms and dodging various object and enemies.

But maybe that analogy is not fair. It’s more likely that Mr. Cirone had a higher purpose in mind.  He was not out to kill me. Rather, he was throwing change-ups of time signatures, rhythms and tempos at me because he wanted me to be a better drummer. Thanks Anthony.

After running through Etude 1 many times in daily short practice sessions, I asked Nadine to videotape me playing the short solo. Get a good shot of the sticks, and make sure the camera is high enough to take away my double chin. Thanks honey!

I dialed back my metronome a bit from the blistering pace of 132bpm and set my foot tapping. I was tackling my first snare drum solo in 40 years. It would be rough but more practice and perhaps a shot of single malt would help in future. Show time!

Editor’s note: 1-minute video can be found on Ian’s FB page.  He is too cheap, or perhaps not tech-savvy enough, to upgrade his blog software to include video here.