Given the number of ‘surprises’ that can occur in any piece of music that requires cannons it is to their great credit that this comes off pretty flawlessly. My favourite bit actually isn’t the guns – its the four wonderful guys with flags telling them when to fire!!

Its noticeable that in what looks like the VIP seats everyone has gone for cover – perhaps they didn’t want to get “blown away” by the performance ( a bit like England were blown away by Scotland in the rugby this afternoon )

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky : 1812 Overture

Obviously, this wasn’t originally a percussion piece of music, but I have heard it on a number of instruments – and I even played it on French Horn – its an interesting technical exercise

Johan Sebastian Bach : Cello Suite No.1 – Prelude (on Marimba)

Comments :

Steve Thomas

think i’m more of a cello boy

We stick with percussion again – I have, many months ago – already shared something of the Blue Man Group. Their shows are great entertainment – but for obvious reasons are not widely available online.

This is one – part of the “Tiny Desk Concert” series – and it gives you a brief taster of what it is like to be at their show – and I can tell you that the mess left at the end is nothing compared to the mess at the end of their full show. The audience get to participate – not just watch.

The instruments used here do not demonstrate the “power” of their music – this is very much the cut-down version.

Blue Man Group : Tiny Desk Concert

For those that liked this – the second piece that they played – The Forge – can be found here with the full instruments (and ALL the drums)

Blue Man Group : The Forge

Its strange how sometimes something, seemingly insignificant, can get stuck in your brain. This clip is one of those for me. It contains one of the best percussion quotes that I know – “when I play a theatre, I PLAY the theatre” – you will get the context when you watch the clip. I have said this to many people over the years – don’t think any of them ever got it they just looked at me a bit blankly!! Now they can see what I was talking about. Not sure when this was first broadcast – but I have never forgotten it.

As someone says in a comment (to paraphrase) “you can tell this guy is good by the fact that even Animal stops to watch with his jaw hitting the floor”

Buddy Rich : Drum Battle

There are lots of videos – this one is of their performance at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 2015.

Top Secret Drum Corps

Comments :

Jonathan Bellshow

They are amazing

Like yesterday, this is not ‘just’ percussion, but as you watch it you will notice that the percussion features a lot! I did share the opening part of this a few months ago so the first part might seem familiar!

If anyone is completely new to Blast! then this is the theatrical version of the phenomenon that is the Marching Band. I first came across this group (as the Star of Indiana) when they were performing with the Canadian Brass in shows entitled “Music Theatre” – there are a few videos of that on YouTube.

Watching the video does not compare to the “live” version but that opportunity is unlikely to happen anytime soon!! I well remember being “blown away” (in all senses) when I first heard a college Marching Band at the Edinburgh Tattoo. It really is a big sound.

As for the percussion – well in this performance apart from those prancing around the stage there are also five big ‘boxes’ at the back of the stage filled with an impressive array of kit!

Hope you enjoy this….

Star of Indiana : Blast

In this clip I have editted out much of the ‘pantomime’ that took place before the start of the piece. Geoff had decided that we would quite often start after the interval with this and that it would be a ‘good idea’ if, when he tried to conduct, the Band would tell him that they were missing the percussion section – which is always necessary , but even more so for this.

The excuse (at least to start with) was that we were still outside selling CDs. As these things tend to do – each time we played it, the ‘pantomime’ got more involved, with the percussionists lounging at the back of the hall, claiming that they weren’t going to play until they got paid and generally stringing out the introduction to extreme lengths.

Geoff would then give us a very limited time to get to our places in the Band before starting the piece. I remember when we were in Umeå – the furthest north point of the tour – we were playing in a church that had a small balcony at the back – quite a long way from the Band. Having completed our little act we were led out the door at the back of the balcony by our youngest member – ran down what I remember as a very winding staircase – and in through the door at the bottom of the stairs.

Unfortunately – it was the wrong door and we all piled into a little room that was most certainly not where the Band were about to play – fortunately, the second door we tried was the right one. I think in subsequent performance we made sure that our escape route was well thought through!!

The whole of the evening’s recording has now been added in a separate post.

Las Lluvias Grande : Peter Graham

Comments :

Simon Wright

I would never get lost…….just seeing if you would all follow like sheep!

Rachel Wood

Howard J Evans you could do this one maybe

Gemma Hinchliffe

My Grandad loved to play to the crowd, have fun & make people smile. Love the sombreros! How did you get those in your cases!??!?? Love all these memories Xxxxx Thank you George

Simon Wright

Brian Wright you are younger than I am now! Salt n pepper beards are clearly a family trait!

Brian Wright

I listened to a concert online tonight of the Berlin Philharmonic playing Bruckner’s 7th Symphony. If you were paying attention when I shared a performance of that symphony several months ago you might remember I made a (cryptic) comment about the cymbal part.

To explain – in a symphony that lasts well over an hour there is just one cymbal clash – it takes about 40 minutes to get to it and then you can spend the rest of the time recovering.

The full concert is behind a subscription wall – but the trailer is available for free.

The reason for this share is that the cymbal player in this clip really does put his all into it – knowing that it is his one moment of glory his professionalism is exemplary. The video is a short trailer for the concert which has about a minute long excerpt from the Mozart piece before a fragment of the Bruckner – including the cymbal. Keep an eye out for him – although, to be honest its hard to miss him

Anyway – this is something that I came across relatively recently and these instruments are, perhaps surprisingly, a 21st Century phenomenon. The music is not demanding, but it is (or at least I think it is) quite relaxing.

Hang Massive: The Secret Kissing of the Sun and Moon

Whilst I was in Wien one of the concerts I went to was with Steve Reich and his sextet. It is imprinted in my memory not so much for the music (although it was an entertaining evening) but for the fact that throughout there was “weather” noise from outside and the lights kept flashing – clearly there was a storm raging….

At the end we left the Konzerthaus to find that it had been snowing – heavily – and there was several inches covering everything with some mini-drifts that were even deeper. Fortunately I didn’t have too far to walk home!!

I guess not everyone is a fan of Reich, so I have chosen something short – although there are a lot of folks taking part in this “lockdown” version there is only two parts – those on the left keep repeating the same rhythm throughout – those on the right clap the same rhythm – but every eight bars shift by one.

If you want to try it yourself – there is (seemingly) even an app!!

Steve Reich : Clapping Music

Comments :

Peter Bailey

Must be a percussionist thing George R McConnell . I’m afraid I’m not one of the limited audience

George McConnell

Can understand that – that is why I didn’t link his Drumming composition it is nearly an hour long.

Steve Thomas

Well you certainly have quiet a spectrum of music likes (& i’m loving your stories too) having seen a few percussion street bands, in Christchurch & Bournemouth this also hit the smiling nerve, but maybe not an hour
well done!