Some thoughts about percussion..

In the percussion world, there are several terms and ideas that carry some connotations that I find troubling. In turn, I decided to combine both prompts into one, short cohesive list of terms that I love about percussion, but are commonly misunderstood by people outside of our discipline. I will note that sensitivity and support for the percussive arts are absolutely amazing here at the University of Michigan, so the misunderstandings I refer to have no bearing on my experience at UM so far.

1. Rudiments: Part of my GSI appointment at UM requires me to teach Percussion Methods to non-percussionist Music Education majors. This experience has shed a lot of light on the perspectives that some (certainly not all!) musicians have on percussion, and it's been very interesting. With that being said, some of my students had a lot of jokes to make about how silly some of our terminology is, not to mention a very ironic tone of voice to present them in. Paradiddle, pataflafla, cheese chut-di-chut, flam drag, the list goes on.... These names are absolutely ridiculous, but I love them! The names come from a long lineage of drummers that sat down at the drum and figured out patterns that were useful and felt good in the hands, and simply gave them names that stuck around. I think it says a lot about our art form that a huge part of our vocabulary comes from a few dudes that came up with some quirky stuff that everyone thought was cool.

2. Triangle: To non-musicians, the triangle is often seen and heard as a simple toy. To non-percussionists, the triangle is often seen as a novelty instrument. However, the triangle and other small percussion instruments are very powerful voices that demand years of practice in order to make an artistic statement with it. At the same time, though, its accessibility as a simple toy gives it a beautiful dichotomy. While the triangle is not so much a "secret word," its connotations among percussionists as a powerful musical instrument draw me very close to the family of instruments I plan on spending my life exploring. Chris Sies of Latitude 49 paid homage to the triangle in such an amazing way in his lecture in our last class.

3. Tone: Tone is perhaps one of the last things on a young percussionist's mind when learning to play, as I have learned from teaching middle school as well as undergraduates in my Percussion Methods course. However, percussionists that really dive into the artistic realm of music become obsessed with getting very specific tones out of seemingly simple instruments (see Triangle post). Once tone is achieved, absolutely any aesthetic is suddenly at a percussionist's fingertips, or stick tips. Often times, one might see a percussionist making a grand gesture or a huge motion to play a single note on an instrument. As silly as it looks, this is the sight of an artist focusing his or her entire being into getting the exact tone they are looking for.


I hope this gives a little bit of insight into the percussive realm! Like I said before, I have felt so much support at UM from my colleagues, and I have no doubt that all of my fellow artists respect my discipline as much as anyone else's. I can't wait to explore some thoughts on the various other artistic mediums that are represented in this course!