The second snare drum solo I tackled was the Allemande, channelling elements of a traditional German dance. Composer Anthony Cirone notes the form’s moderate 4/4 tempo, upbeats, and frequent short, running figures.
But the part that really got my heart thumping was a furious section of syncopation and rolls that build on the theme introduced in the simpler first section. And how the theme is reprised at the finale.
Cirone is keen on the dynamics of music. When we look at contemporary music, some drummers make the mistake of going full-bore throughout a solo. This style, ironically, takes away some of the power of the work. In music, as someone said, without a pianissimo, there is no fortissimo.
Jazz drummer Buddy Rich sometimes got knocked for his showy style and surly band leadership but when I saw him play live several times in the 1970s, I was mesmerized by his musical dynamics. Buddy created counterpoint in his solos with a whispering snare roll or delicate transition to cymbals or drum rims. So when he went full bore and fast tempo it was like fireworks.
Percussionist and composer Anthony Cirone expores musical dynamics throughout his classic book of snare drum studies, Portraits in Rhythm.
I tucked into his Allemande, Etude 27, and practiced its different segments. Those included the simpler introductory theme and the piece’s trickier passages of sixteenth-notes, rolls, syncopation and rudiments such as the flam. Here and there I took out my pen and marked stick patterns with “R” for right hand and “L” for left hand, for better execution.
To give myself a break I sight-read through and enjoyed the next three segments of this four-part study (Etudes 27-30) channeling an 18th century dance suite. The Courante was lively. The Sarabande was powerful. The concluding Gigue was giving me trouble, so I tried to drop some of the rudiments in its trickier passages and just get the flow.
“Hot drumming”
During an early summer heatwave, my daughter’s old room was a sauna, but it felt good drumming through Etude 27 with the occasional bead of sweat running down my back and forehead. I found an old fan and turned it on to blow the hot air around.
I was enjoying the feel of the drumsticks and the sound and tactility of my CB “Percussion Internationale” snare drum. The drum with its U.S.-made heads and Taiwanese chrome shell lived up to that name, even it was a cheap knock-off scorned by some drum purists.
My two-year-old cochlear implant hearing system on the right side evoked the richness of the drum’s sound — its pitch, depth and resonance. To me, the drum sounded beautiful.
When I was comfortable enough with Cirone’s Allemande study, Etude 27, I intended to ask my spouse and covid isolation partner, Nadine, to tape my second snare drum solo on my cell phone. But she was working from home — on her phone — so I taped it myself.
The video evidence
When I watched the tape I saw a sweaty middle-aged guy with posture issues looking a bit too lackadaisical for some of the fireworks that the piece demanded. I saw myself hitting a few rough patches. On the flip side, there were some nice changes between segments and my eyes bugged out during the syncopated rolls at the end, indicating I was locked in to the music.
I vowed to practice more to nail it.
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