Undergraduate College Percussion Auditions Part 2 - Mallets

For many students, the mallet keyboard portion of the undergraduate college percussion audition is the most challenging aspect of their audition.  Nerves, anxiety, and a lack of experience can lead to a bad performance with little control and many missed notes.  This can negatively color an otherwise excellent audition.  In part 2 of my series on undergraduate percussion college auditions, I hope to provide some suggestions to improve the mallet keyboard portion of the audition.   

Let's review the basic components of the mallet keyboard audition.

Scales and Arpeggios

Although far from thorough, scales are one of the most basic ways college audition panels gauge how well a potential student knows their instrument.  When preparing for a college audition you must learn (preferably on the marimba) how to play all of your major, natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales in at least in 2 octaves starting with your right hand at a reasonable tempo.  16th notes somewhere around 80-100 bpm should be sufficient.  All scales should be recallable immediately from memory.  If you need to think about a scale before playing it you are most likely not where you need to be.  Arpeggios are the same as scales.  They should be recallable immediately from memory. Many schools ask for arpeggios (and scales) to be played in different ways.  Do your homework and practice in all major and minor keys.

Repertoire Selection

There are better works than others and I would encourage students to review my list of suggested works below.  Selecting the right work for your audition will display a certain degree of seriousness right off the bat so IT IS extremely important.  However, ultimately the success of your audition will depend on how well you play so it's also just as important to bat at your level.  Know your strengths in the present moment and play to them.  If you audition is successful you will have the next 4 years to work on your weaknesses.  

Due to the rather large amount of exciting music written for mallet keyboard percussion, students can often get caught up in the all too common race of "who is playing what."  It's important to ignore this mindset, tune out the noise, and play to your strengths.  

The college audition experience is a huge opportunity to improve.  It should be.  With this firmly in mind, many students will try to stretch themselves and work on something "big" that is slightly above their current ability level.  I absolutely support this but only when it's done right.  It's very important to tread carefully and give yourself the proper amount of lead time.  If you are unable to live with the piece for an extended period of time you run the serious risk of over shooting.  This never turns out well.  Be careful and plan ahead.  For this very reason, most of my students have their music selected and notes learned by the summer before their auditions.  This gives them the chance to schedule a few performances (see below) and have the work in both their ear and their hands for a few months before the audition.  This adds a tremendous amount of confidence and potential polish to the audition.

Solo 2 Mallet Work

Contemporary students tend to lean toward spending more time on their 4 mallet solo with the well meaning yet misguided impression that "it matters more."  You must understand that audition panels are not impressed by a poorly presented 2 mallet solo accompanying a decent at best 4 mallet solo.  This only ends up working against the auditionee.  A clean, clear, and accurate 2 mallet solo played with a lot of energy and passion goes a long way toward showing true thoroughness and attention to detail.  DO NOT overlook the 2 mallet solo!!!

For the two mallet solo don't assume that a marimba work is always the best choice,  Some students may be more comfortable playing a work written for the xylophone (on the xylophone of course) and if that is the case great!  Just make sure that the school where you are taking the audition doesn't have specific requirements.  

Accuracy is important and at this level I find that a lot of it has to do with repertoire selection.  Picking the right piece of music that you are able to control will lead to an accurate performance.  Review the paragraph about repertoire selection above and make sure you are honest and thoughtful in making your selection.

Your selection should be memorized and you should have all of your sticking's planned out. If you are reading and playing "on the fly" it will look extremely unprofessional.

Mallet choice does not make or break an audition but it is important.  Select mallets appropriate to the character of what you are playing.  Make sure every note written in the work is able to speak clearly.  For example, do not select mallets that only work well at the low end of the instrument but not at the mid or high range.  Be balanced and thoughtful in your selection and try a lot of different things.  You never know what the audition panel will ask of you!

Setting Yourself Apart

Here are a few more important and interesting points.  Studying these will set your 2 mallet solo apart. 


Create Lines  

A simple regurgitation of snare drum technique on any of the mallet keyboard instruments will not do.  The 2 mallet portion of the audition should show sensitivity and the understanding of creating lines at the most basic level.  This article is about undergrads so you don't need to be a master of this nuanced skill but the beginning of a clear understanding should at least be present.  This goes a long way toward showing maturity and potential.  For more about creating lines check out my article here . 

Create Direction 

Take the time to give each musical line direction.  It's wonderful to have accuracy and you should absolutely strive for it but a lack of direction in your playing may suggest a lack of lingual musical understanding.  Record yourself and listen for this specifically.  Are you playing notes or telling a story?  Be sure and do the latter!

Solo 4 mallet work

Everything stated above in this article applies here so my first suggestion is to go back and reread everything up to this point.

Like in the 2 mallet work, your selection should be memorized and you should have all of your sticking's planned out.  Again, if you are reading and playing "on the fly" it will look extremely unprofessional.   

Without sounding repetitive, do not attempt to play something that you aren't ready to play!  It will work against you.  Especially concerning the 4 mallet solo, the question to ask yourself pertains to "control."  Are you in control of what your are playing or does it and the instrument control you?  If the answer is the latter than you are playing something too advanced.  When considering the 4 mallet solo, please be careful in this regard.

Setting Yourself Apart

In my experience, the following are some of the most commonly overlooked aspects of the 4 mallet solo work.  Reviewing these important points will absolutely set your 4 mallet solo apart.  Please also review the "setting yourself apart" section on 2 mallet playing above.  All of the information there applies here as well. 

1) Study the voices and don't take them for granted! 

If you have selected a work with counterpoint or music of a similar nature, make sure you have worked toward developing the listening coordination to at least hear and possibly control each voice while playing.  This also applies to works without counterpoint.  Spend some time considering and working on the voices.  If you don't have experience with this, a very simple way to begin is to practice listening to different voices each time you play.  The ear is a muscle and by working in this way, you will develop some listening coordination.  At the undergraduate level, it is understood that a student may only be at the starting point of this crucial skill but nevertheless, a starting point and sincere attempt should at least be present.

2) Try and develop a technique that doesn't rely on tension for accuracy.  

Spend some time thinking about this.  If you rely on tension your muscles along with your nerves will tense up during the audition.  This could potentially lead to a meltdown.  While this is true for all playing (and the audition in general) I have often found that technically, the most awkward part of the audition is the 4 mallet solo.  There are a variety of reasons for this that would take up an entire article but generally, tension is one of the most common.  No matter what grip you are using, your posture, arms, wrists, fingers, and upper body should generally be relaxed.  Practice slow and pay extra attention to this.  Also be sure to focus on your breathing! (more about this below)

3) Mallet choice should sound in all necessary areas of the keyboard.  Be careful with graduated mallets. 

Mallet choice should sound in all necessary areas of the keyboard.  I will often listen to students who decide to use graduated mallets.  They understand the concept intellectually and believe that understanding it intellectually alone will suffice.  Unfortunately, this is not true and the solution is actually counter intuitive.  Graduated mallets should only be used if you technically ALREADY have complete control of all 4 voices without them.  This means that you have the listening coordination to hear the voices and control them.  Otherwise, graduated mallets tend to hinder rather than help because they are meant to enhance techniques and abilities that are already in place.  If they are used with the assumption that by simply using them the desired sound will happen on their own, their application may backfire.  

Please note that I am not suggesting to use 4 of the same mallets all the time.  Rather, I am suggesting to be mindful and consider the popular adage "less is more."  

How to confront the common lack of experience with notes

There are of course many exceptions but in American percussion education, students tend to study drums first and then move on to mallet keyboard percussion.  When I am listening to college auditions, one of the most basic aspects of a mallet keyboard audition I listen for is whether or not the student "actually knows" how to play the instrument.  There is a gigantic difference between simply learning a work for a college audition and knowing how to play an instrument.  That difference can sometimes make or break an audition.  

Many American percussion students lack the proper experience "years wise" on mallet keyboard instruments.  They simply haven't been around melody, harmony, and notes for a long period of time.  This creates weakness in the overall audition. This is so often the case that compensating for this weakness may be for many the primary goal of the undergraduate college audition.  With that said, I fully realize that in some cases it just isn't possible to cram years of experience into months during the audition preparation. Therefore, if this situation sounds familiar, you will need to find ways to maximize what you have and turn it into an extremely professional and polished product. The good news is that there are indeed ways to compensate to the best of your ability.  We will review some of these methods below.

It's worth pointing out that each of these methods warrants it's own article but they are still worth a brief mention.  By taking these suggestions literally, you will vastly improve the presentation and quality of the mallet keyboard portion of your audition. 

1) Visualization

Are you able to see every note you are playing go by in your head when you are away from the instrument?  This is a common problem created by an over reliance on physical muscle memory and a lack of true listening lingual experience.  If you are unable to visualize then you most likely will not have confidence when playing and you risk any small memory lapse derailing the entire work.  

2) Performances should be done in preparation - VERY IMPORTANT

Any serious college audition preparation process must consist of several performances of the selected repertoire leading up to the college audition.  Performing the music for the first time in the actual audition is a dangerous game to play.  Schedule performances for your band program, friends, family, and teachers.  This will allow you to develop some experience feeling the nerves and anxiety you may feel during the audition process.  It is invaluable.  It may be scary but get it out of the way as soon as possible and avoid the all too common trap of turning the college auditions themselves into "practice."  If the college auditions themselves are the first time you've ever performed your pieces you may be in big trouble. 

3) Breathing

It's amazing how many talented students I see holding their breath and white knuckling this portion of the audition.  Spending a little time during your practice sessions being mindful of your breathing will go a long way toward alleviating tension.  Remember...a lack of oxygen to the brain makes things tight and tense.  Being in this state won't help you play your best. Additionally, breathing is a coordination issue.  Being able to naturally breath while playing speaks volumes about the player's emphasis and general skill level.  Learning to breath is a basic thing that will immensely help.  Don't overlook it! 

Orchestral Excerpts

Be sure and select the right mallets for the job that speak well in all areas of the instrument you are playing.  Most undergraduate audtionees have very little relevant experience playing this music.  My suggestion is to keep it simple.  If you are playing glockenspiel use basic glockenspiel mallets or magic flute mallets for The Magic Flute (see below).  For xylophone use basic "general" xylophone mallets.  I hope to explore this further and write an article in the future about mallet selection.

Everything that follows is repeated material from Part 1 of this series.  It's definitely worth going over again as everything here applies to all instruments.  

Some schools may not ask undergraduates to play excerpts but if they do this section of the audition is often tricky.  Many potential undergraduate percussionists may have very little to no experience actually bringing this music to life in live performances with an orchestra.  However, there is still a lot of important preparation work that must be done to insure that this section of the audition is professional regardless of experience.

The first think to do is to listen to and study the music with the score.  You must do this before even attempting to practice a single note of the music.  This takes some time but it is necessary.  I can always tell when an undergraduate auditionee is attempting to play an excerpt with no prior knowledge of the music. It is unprofessional and ill prepared.  

To further clarify, knowing the music well means doing the following things.

1) Know what other instruments in the orchestra you are playing with during the excerpt (if any).  You should be able to hear the music going by in your head as you play it.  This is a literal statement!

2) Know the greater structural context of your part in the music.  For example, is the excerpt you are playing in the beginning or the end of the work?  What movement does it take place?  This may seem obvious yet so many students overlook this easy part of the process.

3) Know the historical period when the work is written and some stylistic characteristics of it.

4) Finally, any other historical anecdotes and stories about the work are welcomed and encouraged.  The more you know the better!

Once you feel comfortable with this information prepare the music to the best of your ability.  It is understood by most professors that a potential undergraduate may not have a lot of performance experience but if the proper background work is done and music is made, a noticeable lack of experience will most likely be forgiven.

Sight Reading

There is a lot to discuss here.  I will address this fully in part 4 of this series.

Repertoire Suggestions

Suggested 2 Mallet Works

Violin Sonatas and Partitas, JS Bach
Cello Suites, JS Bach
Prism, Keiko Abe
Marimba Dances Mvt #1, Ross Edwards
Concertino for Marimba, Paul Creston
Concertino for Xylophone, Toshiro Mayuzumi
Etude #2, #12, Gordon Stout
Etude in Ab, Clair Omar, Musser

Tambourin Chinois, Fritz Kreisler

Suggested 4 Mallet Works

Violin Sonatas and Partitas, JS Bach
Cello Suites, JS Bach
Etude in C Major, Clair Omar Musser
Etude in B Major, Clair Omar Musser
Frogs, Keiko Abe
Michi, Keiko Abe
Two Mexican Dances, Gordon Stout
Four Rotations, Eric Sammut
Nancy, Emmanuel Sejourne
Katamiya, Emmanuel Sejourne
Time For Marimba, Minoru Miki
Two Movements for Marimba, Tanaka

Excerpts (Here are a few basic ones that aren't too complicated.  I have kept this list short on purpose.)

Xylophone

Porgy and Bess, George Gershwin
Colas Breugnon Overture, Dimitri Kabalevsky
Polka from The Golden Age, Dimitri Shostakovich

Bells 

The Magic Flute, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
La Mer, Claude Debussy

In part three of this series, we will explore the timpani portion of the undergraduate percussion college audition.

In part four of this series we will explore sight reading and important general audition techniques pertaining to all three instruments!

Undergraduate College Percussion Auditions Part 1 - Snare Drum

This is part one of a series I am writing about undergraduate college auditions.  

In many ways the serious undergraduate college percussion audition is a shocker and an eye opener.  Or at least, it should be.  In an environment where many schools offer some sort of percussion performance degree and many students will take multiple auditions, it's all too easy to overlook the actual importance of the college audition preparation experience itself.  It is a true growing experience and by correctly going through the process, the undergraduate auditionee should become an immensely better player.

This article deals with the serious auditioning student.  I define "serious" as the student who demands of themselves a basic and fundamental understanding of music and the percussive arts before plunging in and making the investment both time wise and financially to pursue a degree in music performance.  While college will and should be a time where this foundation is further reinforced, I believe a foundation must also be in place before college.  In our present day, there is simply too much riding on the college investment to go in without some sort of foundation.

I have spent the majority of my career listening to college auditions as a professor of percussion at NYU Steinhardt.  I also have extensive experience helping to prepare them from when I was the director of The Juilliard Pre-College Percussion Department and now today at Boyar Music Studios.

All of the major music schools have their audition requirements listed on their websites.  I will use this article to delve a step further.  I hope for many excited students, this will prove to help clearly define the process.  I also hope not to sound too negative or "hardcore."  I am simply trying to illustrate clearly what must be done to be competitive and succeed at the highest level possible.

Snare Drum

Although there are always exceptions to every rule, in America most students learn how to play the snare drum first.  Snare drum is on many levels the core of general percussion. Many general percussion techniques can be related to or traced back to snare drum playing.  In a sense this makes the snare drum portion of the audition all about basics. Therefore, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to show strength in this area.  

Let's review the different aspects specific to the snare drum portion of the audition.    

Rudiments

The first thing to consider when preparing rudiments is the 40 Standard American Drum Rudiments.  These rudiments are the alphabet of drumming and like the regular alphabet, they should be readily available instantly from memory.  If you have to think about or recall them for even just a second you may be considered unprepared.  

Many schools will ask for rudiments to be performed slow - fast - slow / open - closed - open. There is a flow to this form of playing rudiments and it's takes hard work to perfect it.  It you haven't practiced them this way for a long period of time prior to your audition it will show. Be sure to take your time when going from slow to fast and back again.  You should be able to accelerate and decelerate as smoothly as possible.  

When playing rolls and going from open to closed, you should try and remain at the fastest open tempo possible for at least a couple seconds before transitioning to closed. This shows that you can maintain the faster tempo while not sacrificing the quality of your open sound. Once you transition to closed remain there for a few seconds and then reverse the process in the same way.  

Here are a few other important tips to consider about rudiments.

1) You must have a strong, clean, and clear open roll.  A sloppy open roll is a red flag that shows a lack of experience and fluency in snare drum playing.  

2) You must have a smooth, consistent, and sustainable buzz roll at all dynamic levels.  If you don't it, it may send a signal that you have skipped the nurturing of this fundamental and important technique.

3) Flams and accents are extremely important as they show your ability to control both down and up strokes.  If either of these techniques are inconsistent, it makes you look weak on a whole range of technical snare drum performance issues.  

Solo Orchestral Snare Drum Work

There is a lot of information here to think about but first, perhaps the most basic piece of information I can impart to you is to make sure that you are "in time."  Believe it or not, time is a commonly overlooked aspect of the solo orchestral snare drum portion of the audition. Time and pulse are a both a foundation in music.  Musically, snare drum is often the time keeper as well.  If you have no time, the snare drum portion of your audition will appear extremely shaky and potentially work against you.  My suggestion is to practice with a metronome and record yourself playing along with it.  You will immediately notice many inconsistencies that must be fixed.  Address them!

Consistency throughout all dynamics is also very important.  Your concept of forte, piano etc. should be the same throughout the entire piece.  I also find that many students have trouble controlling their soft dynamics.  Playing soft should be a natural process.  If a student comes in unable to play soft or if their soft sounds more like a "mezzo forte," (this especially happens all the time) it is clear that this concept has not been fully explored.  

As I pointed out in the rudimental section of this article, it's also very important to have excellent control of your buzz roll at all dynamic levels.  It should not sound "choppy" or "strokey."  It should be full sounding and smooth.

Finally, ornaments are important.  If you don't have a consistent approach to all of your flams, drags, and 4 stroke ruffs it shows a lack of thoughtfulness.  There are many different ways to play these but a consistent approach goes a long way toward expressing thoughtfulness.  

You'll want to record yourself playing during practice sessions to check up on everything. Go through your orchestral snare drum solo line by line and iron out the kinks.  Learn to play it in a way that is consistent with a rock solid steady beat and a lot of passion and energy. 

Rudimental Snare Drum Work

I can often tell a lot about a student's background by how well they play their rudimental snare drum solo.  Some students are able to play orchestral snare drum extremely well but have little to no experience playing rudimental snare drum.  These students may not have been exposed to marching band or drum corps* or they may not have had a teacher who considered rudimental snare drum to be important.  Some teachers may feel this way but I couldn't disagree more.  Rudimental snare drum is a historical cornerstone of drumming and percussion.  

Some of the information here is repeated from the previous section on rudiments.  You must have excellent open rolls and complete control of all accents, flame, and open drags. Anything less is a potential red flag for lack of experience with rudimental drumming.  This goes without saying.  However, the true mastery of the rudimental snare drum solo lies in developing a fluid flow while traversing the stick twisting patterns inherent in rudimental solos.  This takes a lot of slow practice and relaxation.  It is not something easily accomplished.  I still meet professionals who have not put the time in and developed this skill.  Take your time and learn how to play a naturally sounding clean and flowing rudimental drum solo.  It will set you apart.  

* While there are many other ways to garner experience playing rudimental snare drum, I have always believed that some marching band or drum corps experience is a good thing.

Orchestral Excerpts

Some schools may not ask undergraduates to play excerpts but if they do this section of the audition is often tricky.  Many potential undergraduate percussionists may have very little to no experience actually bringing this music to life in live performances with an orchestra.  However, there is still a lot of important preparation work that must be done to insure that this section of the audition is professional regardless of experience.

The first think to do is to listen to and study the music with the score.  You must do this before even attempting to practice a single note of the music.  This takes some time but it is necessary.  I can always tell when an undergraduate auditionee is attempting to play an excerpt with no prior knowledge of the music. It is unprofessional and ill prepared.  

To further clarify, knowing the music well means doing the following things.

1) Know what other instruments in the orchestra you are playing with during the excerpt (if any).  You should be able to hear the music going by in your head as you play it.  This is a literal statement!

2) Know the greater structural context of your part in the music.  For example, is the excerpt you are playing in the beginning or the end of the work?  What movement does it take place?  This may seem obvious yet so many students overlook this easy part of the process.

3) Know the historical period when the work is written and some stylistic characteristics of it.

4) Finally, any other historical anecdotes and stories about the work are welcomed and encouraged.  The more you know the better!

Once you feel comfortable with this information prepare the music to the best of your ability.  It is understood by most professors that a potential undergraduate may not have a lot of performance experience but if the proper background work is done and music is made, a noticeable lack of experience will most likely be forgiven.

Suggested Snare Drum Audition Repertoire List

This is only a very small suggested audition list to get you started.  There are many other acceptable works worth exploring.  However, with these you won't go wrong and a large portion of your ability will be safely on display.  

Orchestral Snare Drum

Douze Etudes pour Caisse-Claire, Jacques Delecluse

Portraits in Rhythm, Anthony Cirone

Rudimental Snare Drum

14 Modern Contest Solos for Snare Drum, John Pratt

Modern Rudimental Swing Solos for the Advanced Drummer, Charley Wilcoxon

Orchestral Excerpts 

Peter and the Wolf, Sergei Prokofiev

Concerto for Orchestra, Bela Bartok

Lieutenant Kije, Sergei Prokofiev

Capriccio Espagnol, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Scheherazade, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Symphony 10, Dimitri Shostakovich

In part two of this series.  We will explore the mallet keyboard portion of the undergraduate percussion college audition. 

A Rare Gift

I wrote the following on March 12, 2011

A Rare Gift

Today Joe Morello passed away.  He is without a doubt one of the most influential drummers in history.  He taught me everything I know about drumming and I am honored to say, he was my teacher for 2 years.  We didn’t stay in touch after working together.  Had I contacted him, he probably wouldn’t have remembered me.  I was just a kid and Joe had so many students.  It doesn’t matter.  His influence was so powerful that it changed my playing and my life forever.  I will never forget how he shared his gift with me and today not only do I benefit from it but my student's do as well.

In 1996 I was a freshman in high school.  At the time my most important musical goal was to enter the DCI circuit and march in drum corps.  I knew very little about music and a lot about chops.  Today, many people know me as a marimbist.  What a lot of people don’t know is that I couldn’t even read treble clef until the end of my sophomore year of high school.  My original goal was to become a drummer.

At the time I had a subscription to Modern Drummer.  I remember Joe’s agent placed a personal ad stating that Joe Morello was looking to take on a few private students.  I was totally surprised.  It seemed too good to be true that such a legend would be so accessible.  I talked to my father and got permission to contact him.  It was true.  Joe Morello was teaching lessons above The Glen Weber Drum Shop in West Orange, NJ about 2 hours away from where I lived in Hillsborough. 

After speaking with Jean (Joe’s wife who did all of the scheduling) Joe agreed to meet with me for a trial lesson.  He was very skeptical that such a young kid like myself would benefit from his instruction.  It didn’t matter, we set up the first lesson and my dad drove me out to The Glen Weber Drum Shop.  Next to the shop was a door with a long staircase leading up to the second floor.  We walked up and entered the door at the top.  We had entered Joe Morello’s drum studio.  It was really empty.  There were a couple of posters up in what appeared to be a large waiting room.  There was this dude practicing pad in the corner.  Joe wasn’t there.  I had only seen pictures of him so I didn’t know what to expect anyway.  There was a room that had a set of drums in it, a few "quiet tone" drum mute pads, and a few chairs.  There was also a huge ashtray.  The whole place smelled like cigarettes.  It must have been where Joe taught.  A guy walked into the waiting room.  I had seen pictures of him before in Modern Drummer.  It was Danny Gottlieb.  It was at that point I realized I was in way over my head.  Here I was 15 years old.  I didn’t really know anything.  There was someone probably twice my age playing pad in the corner and a famous drummer had just walked in the room.  I figured that famous drummers must hang out at Morello’s studio and many of his regular student's were adults.  Danny actually came over and talked to us.  He told us that Joe always runs late and he is on his way.  Finally I heard him.  Joe had arrived.  He came in on the ground floor and started walking up the stairs.  Then I saw him.  This guy was old.  I had no idea.  He had to be 70.  When he got to the top of the stairs Danny greeted him and I think he may have introduced us.  It turned out Danny was just kind of hanging out and a liaison.  To tell you the truth I can’t really remember.  I just remember he was there kind of chilling, not taking lessons or anything, just like a pro hanging with another pro kind of thing. 

Joe was powerful but it was an unfamiliar sensation to me and I was too young to make sense of it.  Most of the cats I had been hanging out and playing with were young guys from drum corps and we were a loud bunch!  Joe was different.  For someone who had influenced so many he was actually quite normal, genuine, and approachable.  Being older now I would call it true presence.  He had trouble seeing but you wouldn’t notice.  He talked with a lot of sincerity but at the same time he had a clear energy.  He was real.  The first thing he did was ask my father in the most polite way to go pick him up a pack of smokes.  I think it was Marlboro Reds.  (This would begin an odyssey in which Joe would either smoke a whole pack each lesson and send my dad out for more or he wouldn't be smoking and would tell us he quit.  It was different every week.)  He was so nice it was crazy.  He also knew my cousin Stan Getz so it was kind of like there was something to talk about right away.  

We went into his studio and the first thing he told me was that I was probably too young to study with him.  He was willing to give it a try but he really didn’t want to waste my money.  He told me he would agree to 3 lessons over a 3 week period.  If I did ok he would keep me as a student.   I practiced a lot and did everything he told me to do.  After 3 lessons he told me he would take me as a student.

Joe was old but he played circles around me.  He often did it with one hand.  I am being totally literal here.  The guy could out play me and everyone I knew with one hand.  He was constantly drumming.  He loved it so much.  He loved just coming into the lessons and talking for like an hour before we played a note.  He would tell stories and then we would drum for like 2 hours.  He was always behind schedule because his lessons would go on for so long.   It you had a lesson at 5 you knew your lesson would start around 7 or 8 because he always kept his students for 2 to 3 hours.  You also knew you wouldn't leave until 10. Since I was still in high school and my dad was driving so far we would try and get the first lesson slot every Friday.  Jean graciously helped us schedule that.

One of the most important things to know about how Joe influenced me is that we only touched the drum kit maybe twice in the whole 2 year period I worked with him.  Everything we did was about basics.  He gave me about 3 hours of drum pad work to do per night.  He would have me working on everything from the most basic rebound stroke (Joe called it a full stroke) to accents and flams.  He took me through what his teacher George Lawrence Stone showed him in his famous standard books "Stick Control" and "Accents and Rebounds." We also worked out of Joe’s book “Master Studies.”  We would do all the exercises and Joe would play with me note per note.  Sometimes he would go twice as fast with one hand just to prove his technique.  He was all about building unlimited stamina in the most relaxed and deliberately natural way.  In fact if you get his book “Master Studies” he explains it all in the beginning.  It’s all so simple yet so revelatory and true.  To this day everything I do is an outgrowth of this powerful foundation.  He would assign me an exercise at 55 bpm and my assignment would be to bring it in at 60 bpm the following week by increasing the tempo one metronome marking per day.  I would write my lesson assignments all over the inside of my copy of “Master Studies.” I still have it.  Each exercise would take about 20 minutes to complete and my goal was to get through them without feeling any tension.   We would then do all of them in the lessons no matter how many of them he had assigned.  Given the simplicity of what we were doing Joe was remarkably thorough.  

Sometimes I would ask if we could work on drum set.  He told me I needed to have a foundation first.  Truthfully, foundation was everything in his approach.  As for drum set he explained to me that kids my age wanted to play rock in straight 8ths and he came from a time when swing was hip.  He would get on the kit, play a rock beat, and tell me it wasn’t his thing.  Then he would start to swing and the drums would melt like butter.  He said to study drums with him I would need to practice swing time on a cymbal for like 2 hours a day only after first building my hands and stamina. He said the feel was everything and he couldn’t (and wouldn’t) help me with coordination unless I learned to swing.  I only took 2 drum set lessons and we worked on the ride cymbal the entire time.  He was right.  I was a young kid who didn’t understand jazz.  I wanted to rock out.  We stayed on the pad and he continued to build my hands.

At the time this was all happening my hands were changing very fast.  After my first lesson I could play a single stroke roll for the first time without tensing up.  After a few lessons tension in my playing was completely a thing of the past.  After about 2 months I had sheer speed and finesse.  Most people who knew me and saw the changes occur in such a short period of time thought it was magic.  I felt like through Joe I had discovered the drumming equivalent to the fountain of eternal youth.  It was all about fundamentals and learning to relax.  Up until I met Joe I was relying on tension in my playing like a crutch.  Joe taught me how to do the opposite.  Many people note that one of my strong points as a player is my speed and agility.  They often attribute this to my time in drum corps.  In reality this actually comes from what Joe taught me about energy and physics.  I applied it to everything.

Joe loved teaching.  What's amazing is that he did the same thing with every student but he never got sick of it.  He would drum, smoke, and tell stories.  Sometimes he would tell the same stories but I didn’t care because he was so into it and I was having so much fun.  I was truly in the presence of greatness but I was really too young to fully understand that.  I just wanted information.  Looking back I see it all now.  This guy was a great teacher and a great person.  He was treating me with a lot of kindness and making sure I absorbed his approach.  He was such a gentleman to my father too.  I am extremely lucky to have crossed paths with him.

I studied with Joe for about a year.  I then went off for the summer to march in drum corps, came back, and studied with him for another few months.  Toward the end of my sophomore year of high school I began to set my sights on new conquests.  I wanted to learn mallet percussion.  I decided I would audition for Juilliard Pre-College.  My time with Joe was coming to an end.  I remember in one of our last lessons, I told him I was trying to learn about mallet percussion.  He told me a story about a guy from Eastman School of Music who played a lot of mallets and had studied with him a long time ago when he wanted to get good at snare drum.  The guy’s name was Leigh.  It was Leigh Howard Stevens.  Leigh has a section in his book “The Method of Movement” dedicated to Joe Morello’s influence on him.  As I myself explored marimba playing further, I would also find that so much of what Joe taught me on the drums applied to my marimba playing.  It just shows the sheer universality of Joe’s concepts and the fluidity of his approach. 

Post Morello I went on to spend a decade at Juilliard as both a student and a faculty member.  I was blessed with many wonderful teachers along the way who helped me and I learned from all of them.  However, so much of my path can be traced back to my short period working with Joe Morello.  He built my hands but more than that he taught me how powerful sharing one's gifts as a teacher could be.  Time was never considered in my lessons.  He would lose himself in the moment and the smile never left his face.  Hours would go by and we would drum.  Joe was passionate about drumming and as a teacher and he was the definition of dedicated.  Had I not had this period I would not be the player or the teacher I am today.  Joe changed my life.  To me and to so many others he will always be a GIANT.  His legacy will last forever through his music and his students.  He will always be here reminding us that the love of our craft is what sustains us and as drummers we are the luckiest people on earth.

God Bless you Joe Morello. Thank you for everything.  May you Rest In Peace…

- Simon Boyar 3/12/11