Iowa All-State 2019

It’s that time again!

All-State auditions are coming up fast and I have example videos for the percussion requirements here. I have my collected thoughts on execution below, with the individual videos embedded in each section.

Snare Drum: Cirone Portraits in Rhythm Etude #3

This is pretty straight forward, and the study guide version has some good advice on interpretation.

Line 2: sfz is not an accent. It is emphasized within the dynamic, feeling larger, with bigger resonance, not just more volume. Add more weight than height and emphasize the first 2-4 notes before the decrescendo.

Line 3: The slow tempo/fast rhythm trick. Rewrite without the top beam to see a simpler rhythm of triplets and 16th groupings if needed. The triplet in the last measure feels more like a quarter note triplet, very wide. I play the triplet all on the right hand by practicing with an alternating 6-tuplet first, then taking out the left hand.

Line 5: The last bar buzz rolls could have a base of 32nd notes, but I find that too frantic. If you sing it as short and long notes with proper rhythm, filling that space with smooth buzz sound is the goal. I use a triplet base on the 8th note, then 5-tuplet base on the dotted 8th note. That feels and sounds smoother to me, though it takes a little extra time to master the underlying rhythm.

Line 6: Grace note groupings of four notes. Because Cirone prefers all rolls in his etudes to be executed as buzz rolls, this is his way of notating open rolls. They are to be executed like a 5-stroke roll RRLLR.

Timpani: Etude 1 by Barry Dvorak

Short, compact etude. The tricky spots come one after the other very quickly. I recommend starting at the end of each section and working backwards, so you’re always adding the least amount possible to what is already working.

Tuning song: The stacked 4th tuning at the beginning is an opportunity to really, REALLY get the drums tuned well. Math time. I suggest a tuner app like ClearTune or Tonal Energy Tuner, not to get the pitches, but to check your work so you learn faster how to tune for yourself.

1. Timpani (even bad ones) will sing back the pitch they are, the octave above, and the 5th between them. For the low drum that’s G# D# G#.
2. For the middle drum that’s C# G# C#. The SAME high G# will tune both the bottom and the middle drum.
3. Bend in close to the middle drum. Sing high G# (5th above) and pedal up. It will sing back when the drum is at a C# because of science 🙂
4. STAY BENT OVER. Take a breath and sing that G# again, checking your pitch. Move to the low drum, Sing the same G# and pedal up. It will sing back when the drum is at low G#.
5. At this point if the drums are out of tune, it’s because you need to practice doing it and really hearing when they sing back the best.
6. Tap the middle drum to get a C#. The top drum sings back F# C# F#. Bend over, sing C# into the middle drum to confirm the pitch, sing C# into the top drum and pedal up. It will sing back when it’s at F# because of science.

To summarize: High G# tunes the bottom drums. The C# from the middle drum tunes the top drum. Get good at this and you will be very in tune.

After this, the tuning change requires a quick song: in sol fege Re-Mi Sol-Le or in scale degrees 2-3 5-b6. That’s the tuning change on the low drums. It’s an augmented triad and sounds funny, so practice singing it with a marimba or piano to get the notes exactly right.

The first four bars are almost a mirror image of each other. The trick is getting from the rolls to the rhythms after. In m2 I play two 6-tuplets on the roll, accenting the first two notes for a wide fp sound. In m4, however, I play a 7-tuplet on the first beat of the roll, then 5 notes of a 6-tuplet after. This makes it the same number of notes overall, but leaves a subtle gap to get to the middle drum with good tone and stay in time.

Usually, I would try to do some kind of dampening from m4 into m5, but in this case I use a mallet with enough articulation that the p notes aren’t completely lost and allow the middle drum to decay naturally.

The rolls in m9-12 can have a slight gap between them. The drums themselves resonate more and more on the way down, so minimal effort is needed to make the dynamic changes. The last dynamic increase to f needs more from the player, since the drum stays the same.

The tempo/meter change is tough, but there’s a trick. The 16th note from the first part and the triplet 8th from the second part both equal 456bpm. That means the 8 bars of rest can be counted in 3/8, then 6/16 to establish the quarter pulse in the 5/4. It counts like this:

1&2&3& 1&2&3& 1&2&3& 1&2&3& 123123 123123 1- – 2- – 1- – 2- –

In that time you need to mute the drums, switch sticks, and retune. I suggest doing it in that order.

The second half is pretty straightforward. Count beats 4 and 5 carefully in rests. I cross-stick the 2nd measure in ff on count one, and the same way in the final measure. I also start the last line with my right hand and cross-stick the next to last note in that bar. Almost this entire second half is alternating sticking, so I can focus on my tone and dynamics.

Keyboard Etude: Stan Dahl Etude #4

This year’s keyboard etude uses some exotic scales. It’s worth learning at least two of them before working on the piece.

The first scale I’m calling E phrygian dominant. E F Ab B C D E. Phrygian for the half step it starts with, Dominant for the major 3rd and flatted 7th scale degrees. You’ll notice there’s no G in the scale. That’s because there are two minor 3rds in a row, F-Ab-B, and the G note is G#, which in this piece is always written Ab. This scale and the arpeggio E G#/Ab B D are the basis for most of the material in the piece. There are a few other scales used around these notes, but they just bridge these notes together. Be careful of skips, especially in line 2.

The second scale is C whole tone. It’s all whole steps C D E F# Ab Bb. This forms the rest of the material in the piece. Be careful that F#-Ab shows up a lot, looks like a 3rd, but is actually a 2nd.

Dynamics in this piece are tough, as the ranges are really wide, and you’ll need a small, harder mallet to get the high notes to sound good. I decided to assign an affect to each dynamic, so there’s an expressive concept as well a volume level. f-emphasised mf-lyrical mp-subtle p-mellow pp-vanishing. This helped me give each moment context and contrast when volume was hard to work with.

m16: the sticking RRL is pretty obvious. I also use this sticking in m20/21, when the Ephry/dom chord comes back in the inversion 7135. This allows for a better crescendo, I think, than alternating, because the notes get tangled up very easily.

m22: Careful reading the ledger lines. Right hand Ab/F#, Left hand E/D and D/C.

m26: So fast. It starts at p, and the stroke speed alone with make it crescendo. No extra energy, just learn it slow and let it speed up on it’s own.

m30: Ideokinetics is a book/concept by Gordon Stout employed here. Basically, stare just above the middle E and learn to feel the position of the other notes.

m36: count out loud with a metronome while you practice picking up mallets and playing dynamics. I suggest putting a towel starting on the low C bar as a “tray” for the extra mallets.

The second half start at m44 is mostly rehash of the same scales with new sticking/dynamic issues. Characters assigned to dynamics are very helpful here in separating the levels.

m65: If you use a metronome (do that), you’ll notice how the piece crashes into the last line and slows abruptly. Sing the ending over and over until you feel strongly about how it should go. Playing an ending like this with musical conviction is better than trying to find the “right answer”. People will play it differently, and that’s fine. Be confident in your version.

Tambourine: Aaron Williams Etude #6

Pretty tough. Pretty fast. There are several ways to solve it. I used a lot of hand techniques instead of knee/leg techniques. Go slow and get the rhythms right first.

m3: I count the 8th notes. 1 2 off 1 2 3 off 1 2 3 4 5. I flick off the side on the releases. I like this as a non-aggressive release.

m4: I use a heel/toe type motion like in Brazilian pandiero playing. It works as a knee/hand motion as well.

m9: I don’t have a great solution for shake roll dynamics. Place the music stand between you and the judge so you can show the crescendo and the stand can block some sound when it’s softer.

m10: Too fast for me to do anything but knee/hand. I knock with my knuckles on the marcato accents. It’s not louder but the color change makes it seem that way.

m12/13. I cover more area on the loud finger rolls, and less as they get softer. It’s like string players using bow speed instead of pressure. Stay light in your touch.

m15/16: Rhythm is meant to trip you up. Count very carefully.

Crash Cymbals: Aaron Williams Etude #6

The tempo says quarter note = 120, but the piece is written in 6/8. The beat is dotted quarter = 90. It’s not really playable at 120, as you would quickly discover.

I simplify this down to three dynamics first: f mf p. Play the whole thing slowly with only these levels, no accents and no dampening. When you can do that, add the dampening. Finally, add the accents.

Personally, I play non-accented notes 90% with my top hand. When I add the accents, I use a heavier drop in the top hand and help more with the bottom hand. This lets me play consistently with my top hand, and use the bottom hand to modify that sound, which is the whole point of added articulations.

As ff and pp are only single notes or the beginning/end of a crescendo/diminuendo, I don’t consider them “real” dynamics, but rather modifications of my simplified 3 levels, the same as accents. Record yourself and listen back to see if you’ve done enough with them to make the music make sense, but don’t agonize over making a separate resonant level for them.

As always, if you have questions or helpful suggestions I didn’t include here, feel free to ask/share! Happy practicing!