I've done lately, huh? Well, for those of you who screamed, "NO!" I'm just
going to ignore you like I usually do and tell you this story anyway.
As far as I know, most of you (that means "all minus two or three") are aware
of how percussionists are constantly being told to quiet down and play
softer. Well, for the last three weeks or so, we've been playing the
song "Blue Shades" by Frank Ticheli. If you've never heard this song before,
let me tell you that it's kinda cool. There are a couple of really loud bass
drum hits and a fast moving cow bell solo in it. And, take a wild guess who
gets to play that stuff?
Right. Your old pal Sarah.
So, we're playing this song. Well, Mike is always looking at me and
demanding that I play louder. We try different bass drum mallets and stuff;
everything is just not loud enough. Kris (the director) tells me to imagine
that I'm "driving the bus" and play louder.
Everywhere I turn, people are telling me to play louder. Kind of ironic, huh?
So, I'm up to the point now where I am almost literally taking a running leap
at the bass drum so that it's loud enough.
Well, the concert is tomorrow, and I think I've finally got it right.
See, today during practice, I was once again playing 'not quite loud enough,'
so I took the advice that everyone has given percussionists who don't play
loud enough: Try and break the head of the drum.
Now, don't get too ruffled up. Don't worry, I didn't break the bass drum the
day before a concert.
We went through the song once more from start to end, to make sure we knew
it. The song is almost over, and so far I've done an OK job of being loud
enough. The last two lines of the three-page song have a bunch of bass drum
hits at the beginning of each measure. These are supposed to be the loudest
ones, right? So, I'm standing there beating the daylights out of this drum,
when, all of a sudden, the head of this bass drum mallet flies across the
room. Now, picture Trinity's gym. That's the size of the band room. Next,
picture a really big hugeungous timpani mallet, with this head the size of a
large softball.
It's pretty funny to watch your band director keep from falling into
hysterics in the middle of a song. Trust me.
So, to make a long story short, Mike no longer yells at me to play louder.
Hey, he admitted that he never broke the head off of a bass drum mallet.
Be proud and long live percussionists!
-Sarah