Blue Man Group enjoys a vast and well-deserved following. If you’re a fan, you already know about their truly unique performance style, and if you’ve attended the Las Vegas theater show in the Luxor or Venetian hotels (they are currently back at the Luxor), you are well aware of the group’s high-energy multi-media entertainment, which […]
Common Hand-Held Percussion Instruments
Hand-held percussion instruments are important to the style and flavor of a musical piece. They can be found in both non-profit and professional groups, and are played more often in a band than in an orchestra. Hand-held percussion instruments are also called auxiliary percussion, or more informally, “toys.” However, they are certainly no less important […]
Useful Hogwarts Spells for Music Directors
A couple of days ago I was perusing a conductor friend’s pictures from his various performances from 2017, and in this Potter-head’s mind (mine, not his), a few of them looked like he was casting spells. I found a decent list of spells from the Harry Potter canon (the books, not necessarily the movies) and […]
Percussion Skills in Community Ensembles
Too many people join community music groups under the assumption that playing drums involves no skill whatsoever. As a trumpet player with about 20 years of “on the job” percussion training, I can tell you there’s much more to percussion than simply whacking a drumhead with a stick, or smashing two pieces of metal together. […]