It is not news to me that there’s a divide between the
classical departments, jazz departments, and whatever other departments exist
in music schools now. Of the most obvious, to me, is that the jazz musicians
rely on recorded music for repertoire, whereas the classical musicians rely on
sheet music. While as a student I have had much success in classical music
departments (I have a DMA, so I safely say I passed a lot of classes), and less
success in jazz departments (I think my Berklee “rating” was a 0, which is
lower than the worst rating you could actually get. The jury found my skills
exceptionally poor). – I don’t consider myself a great classical musician or
even a passable jazz musician. Yet, I
manage to make music with both classical musicians and jazz musicians.
Recently I have been making a number of college campus visits
and giving xylophone classes. One of my observations has been that students (in
my case, classical percussion students) are glued to the page and trying to “get
it right.” They would like to have the right technique, play the right notes,
and have some awareness about the style they’re playing in. Good. Here’s my problem: these things are
terribly uninteresting, uninspiring, and explain why almost nobody takes up the
xylophone as a solo instrument. There’s not really a precedent for getting it
right, so why worry? The xylophone IS a relatively odd bird. So are many of the
other percussion instruments we throw into the bag of “stuff you should know.”
It’s all quite strange. Don’t believe me? Take whatever you’re working on, and
go play it for your school’s string studio. Better yet, go play it in the park
(close enough to people so you can see how they react, or don’t).
Why not take this as an opportunity to be strange and proud about it?! You have complete
freedom to pursue any avenue on a large group of instruments, and with
relatively little practice you can become one of the world’s top practitioners
of the instrument.
Another observation I’ve made while doing campus visits is
that while students seem entirely overworked (I call it the “college freak-out,”
where I give my students answers to tests an they still freak out over the work required to physically fill it In – but we have other exams to be studying for
now!), there is a frightening lack of listening. That is to say there is a
lack of both listening to recordings to know great performers and great
performances, and simply listening in the moment. A recent rehearsal involved
32 measures of an ensemble playing a beat off of me without most of the
ensemble realizing what was happening – they were looking at and playing their
parts, not listening.
I like to blame Facebook/Youtube/Snapchat/Instalala culture
on the shortened attention span and lack of listening skills. So many of us are
anxiously flopping around social media outlets in order to catch a glimpse of
today’s trend or somehow create a name for yourself (myself?). What are worse
are the social media gurus who have ideas to teach about branding, monetizing,
etc.; odds are you already have more views than them. Being famous or clicked
on has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the material you’re seeing.
Imagine Casals’ Bach Cello Suites released on Youtube (without a video!!), the
poor guy would be pounced on by Maru’s box videos in no time (no disrespect to
Maru).
Please. If you want to be famous, do something that many more
people care about – like skipping the snare drum, timpani and marimba and maybe
trying acting or politics?
That said – I’d be curious what folks considered important
recordings, and if there’s a list out there.
I know Robert Van Sice has done a lot to create videos of the marimba
repertoire he finds important as performed by his students on the Vic Firth
website. How about before then? Do
people listen to Van Sice’s recordings?
In marimba-land my influences with Gordon Stout’s two LPs (Music for Marimba, I think 1 and
2…perhaps out of print, ok – fine, but it shouldn’t be that hard to find
them!), William Moersch’s New Music for
Marimba, Leigh Howard Stevens’ Bach
on Marimba and Marimba When, Keiko
Abe’s Marimba Fantasy, Nancy
Zeltsman’s Woodcuts, Julie Spencer’s Ask, Beverly Johnston’s Marimbach and Impact --- the list goes on.
Some of these recordings may be long out of print (I think Steve Weiss
sells most for $5, if you can track down a CD player), but what’s more disturbing
is the amount of percussion majors who haven’t heard of and heard these
performers!
Regarding xylophone I frequently make the mistake of assuming
every student has heard NEXUS’ recordings Ragtime
Concert and NEXUS Plays the Novelty
Music of George Hamilton Green. Then there’s the 6-CD Green Brother’
collection or Masters of the Xylophone.
That’s a lot of George Hamilton Green, Jr. and Joe Green. Recordings of other great xylophonists (and
there are many) are easily accessible, but take some self-educating by asking
around. It’s no wonder that the autodidact is attracted to the xylophone; very
few people are around to teach it.
Of course my ideas about music were much more informed by
non-percussionists, but those recordings were easier to find, and still are. I
hope percussionists are taking the time to listen to non-percussion recordings
that have had a tremendous impact on the larger music world for more than a
century now. So much wonderful music has been made that has nothing to do with
being able to read music and paying bills by playing night after night. That’s the disconnect I find between the
training students are receiving and actual opportunities available to them
outside of school.
Even though I primarily play xylophone now, I listened to a
lot of marimba recordings throughout high school and college that really
informed my playing. I was fortunate not
to have access to 100s of online tutorials, or other various types of teaching,
which seem more related to get-rich-quick schemes than actual teaching. My
teachers were patient, and often lessons felt like they went nowhere, but
that’s quite impossible. I haven’t been quick to know what direction to go in –
in fact, most of the time I feel like my career has been nothing but the creation
of a very long list of things I don’t want to do, very very very very rarely
leaving me something that seems appealing and worthwhile. But PLEASE, do things
that you believe are appealing and worthwhile!!
I understand doing things because your teacher told you to do
them, but the sooner you can really take ownership over your own thoughts and
actions as a musician --- well, now we’re talking!
