Iowa All-State 2025

It’s that time of year again!

The Iowa All State Percussion Etudes are in year 10 of using custom written materials by Stan Dahl, Barry Dvorak, and Aaron Williams. Almost every Etude written back in 2014 has now been posted (there were a few repeats so we haven’t seen EVERYTHING yet) and it’s been fun to look back and see everything they made for us. Thanks, guys!

This year the etudes are not particularly difficult technically, but the challenge is in the quick tempi and tone control demands.

Cirone #20: from Portraits in Rhythm

As always with concert snare, I suggest learning the piece at 90% the marked tempo, which in this case in 65bpm. This means all your technical elements are the same at full speed and you don’t have to relearn anything when it gets faster. This also means you may need to practice in tiny slices of a beat or two at a time and put them together.

There are 3 marked dynamics ( p, mf, ff ). By assigning these to 3 zones on the head near the rim (p), halfway (mf), and off-center (ff) the drum itself will provide half the dynamic contrast through its resonance. This means you can play more comfortably and not need extreme stick angles, which will make the piece much easier to execute.

The whole etude is all about “gotcha” moments. The 9/8 to 3/4 transitions, the duple to triple subdivisions, and the spacing of embellishments are all designed to be awkward. The best process is what I call “batching”. Instead of playing the entire piece in order, pull out all the similar sections and master them as a set, then assemble them as written once you have an accurate and stable feel for each part.

First Batch: Line 1, Lines 5-7, Line 10. Put a metronome on the 8th triplet subdivision 195bpm. These lines are about a bouncing dance rhythm “3 | 1 – 3 | 1” etc and are generally light and quick.

Second Batch: Line 2, Line 9. Put the metronome on the 8th duple subdivision 130bpm. These lines have a heavy or choppy feeling compared to the 9/8.

Third Batch: All Embellishments from Line 3-4 and Line 8. Met on 195bpm. Every main note is on the same hand – probably right hand – for tone consistency. Embellishments (flams, drags, ruffs) all sound fuzzy at a distance, so a wider spacing is almost always better for clarity.

Remaining measures: 3/4 to 9/8 on Line 3 and Line 11. Count “1 2 3” before the 9/8 bars to prepare the timing transition. Play the final 7 notes of Line 11 as a 7-stroke roll LLRRLL R. It is much too fast for single strokes. The 5-tuplet is at 1080bpm, which is doable with a very light touch.

For Line 1: 6-note natural sticking (RLRLRL) puts every 8th note on the right hand, and generates a nice sticking all the way through. Ex: m1 R-RL R-RL RLRR | R. This is good for Line 6 and the start of Line 5, but won’t work all the way through.

For Line 5: Alternate sticking the whole line, which reverses the sticking after each triplet. The triplets should feel stretchy and wide – most people are coming in playing too tight, closer to a 32nd note.

Timpani: Etude #7 by Barry Dvorak

This piece is fairly simple to play, but has a great opportunity for clarity through color adjustment. I recommend the book The Artist Timpanist by Duncan Patton for the complete method, but I’ll describe what is needed for the etude here. I recommend keeping the metronome on 8ths for the entire piece. Most people are coming in learning the piece around 120bpm on the 8th (60bpm on the quarter) and speeding up from there. On timpani tone is ALWAYS first, so take your time.

The tuning is mostly perfect 4ths. Initial Tuning: using the drum harmonics, a high B will ring back when sung into the B and E drums, making them precisely in tune. Allowing the D to be slightly high (~16cents) as in Just Intonation gives it a pleasing and sweet sound. Retuning: a half step E-F, then perfect 4ths below C/F and G/C. To summarize: B/E, D … E-F, C/F, G/C. I do not use the key given by Dvorak suggesting that you tune a major 3rd and whole step as these are much harder intervals to tune than perfect 4ths. Tuning the drums off each other is always a better idea, as any errors will at least keep them in tune relative to each other.

Dvorak notes “Normal” and Center” sounds. Normal means the standard playing zone with the darkest tone and least thump sound roughly 3-4″ in from the rim. Center CAN mean dead center on the drum, but when multiple pitches are involved – as in this case – I recommend moving 2-3″ off-center so the hard impact sound also has a clear pitch under it.

I divide the first half into 3 colors: The straight 16th passages which start most lines get a bright tone played off the first finger with steep stick angles and sound like “Ti”. The Center passages are played flat to the head off the back fingers with a sound like “Too”. The 3/16 measures in line 3 are played with a feeling of weighty smoothness off the middle fingers and sound like “Da”. In isolation these sounds are very similar, especially “Ti” and “Da”, but in direct contrast they add a clarifying layer to the markings. The best way to practice this is to loop measure groups (Line 1, Line 2, Line 3, Line 4-5) refining the color adjustments until they are clear.

Important note: The dynamic does not change with the color, you can play a flat dynamic with color changes by listening and allowing the stick angles adjust. This is utterly different from marching angles, which can be a challenge to deprogram during this part of the year if you are conditioned to that style.

In the second half, the Dynamic begins at mf, so it’s ok to play up a bit. I prefer the rolls to have 3 notes per 8th note, but 4 is also possible. Short rolls are always a clean rhythm, so pick one that creates a smooth effect with the mallets you’re using. The repeating 16th lick at the end of page 1 needs to be clear, so this may determine which sticks you end up using. I use the sticking LRRL R, crossing on the last note every time this comes around. In the last measure I alternate RLRL R to keep the hands open on the louder notes, which requires a quick shift in the arms. I dampen the bottom drum on the last note, then dampen as indicated for a cleaner final sound.

Marimba: Etude #10 by Stan Dahl

Another 2-mallet / 4-mallet combo etude. I suggest a harder mallet for the 2-mallet portion, I’m currently using an MTech Hard from Malletech or a Round Sound 1 from Marimba One. This allows the high, soft notes to have an immediate, clear, focused tone, which many “medium” mallets will fail to achieve. The 4-mallet portion can be almost anything softer in both hands or even just the left hand. I have students using a range of medium to hard options and they all work just fine.

Set a metronome to 16ths to learn the first page. This helps with precise rhythm cleaning and allows you to leave it on through the mixed meters. Most people are starting between 200-240bpm on the 16th (50-60bpm on the quarter). Master it at low speed and gradually creep it up to full speed. You have plenty of time.

All rolls can/should be separated by an 8th note unless they have written slurs/ties. This is a common element of previous years etudes and very helpful in both phrasing and execution. This means many rolls will end up as only 4-6 notes at full speed, and that’s ok.

Use a light touch throughout, it’s going to get VERY fast so every motion will be small and quick by the end. In m8-13 the chromatic figures are far enough off your center that the accuracy can be an issue. I recommend a wide stance so you can lean your body over and keep those notes more directly in front of you rather than turning to face them at an angle.

Starting at m16, putting the left hand near the ropes and leaving the right hand further towards or in center will voice the melody and keep the repeated low note from washing it out. This makes shaping easier and keeps the sound clean.

For page 2, note that m35 feels faster than m33-34 due to the subdivision switching from 8ths to syncopated 16ths. The base sticking is R LR LR starting at m39. Practice playing one hand while tapping the rhythm of the other, and then reverse it to lock in the pacing but ease the note demand. Once the initial learning is done, this page is pretty smooth.

The chords in m52 turn the hands very fast. I find leaning to my right foot and releasing the weight off my left on the &-of-4 allows me a smooth and accurate turn with minimal body motion.

Tambourine: #1 by Aaron Williams

Quick and technical. There are many ways to play it but I’m suggesting and demonstrating something simple. The “sticking” concept for the 16th notes is like Natural Sticking, where every 8th is played on the right hand but now the left hand notes are played on the leg. To match the tone, play directly on the rim with the fingers and the knee, and find a place on the knee where the tone matches the fingers.

Finger/thumb rolls can be played with any finger, experiment and find what works for you. Generally, you want to anchor the middle of a finger with the thumb and let the last digit skip lightly across the head. The finger/thumb can be very steeply angled to the head – people often have trouble because they are too flat and just slide on the surface.

Crash Cymbals: #1 by Aaron Williams

I suggest learning this in dynamic layers. Master the entire thing at the lowest dynamic, getting all the dampening and lengths exactly like you want them. Then leave the lowest dynamic the same and play all higher dynamics at mp. Continue adding one layer at a time until you have clarity between each level with the same quality execution. This makes it easier to identify what to focus on, and gets you a great balance of consistency and flexibility. Don’t wait until the last week to do this, work on it 5-10min as often as you can.