Movement for Percussion
A training program for moving quickly and quietly between percussion instruments
There are hundreds of wonderful books that teach all aspects of percussion instrument performance...
However, the one that has been missing, teaches not about the music, but the silence required when moving between instruments in the music. That is what Movement for Percussion is all about.
In a typical orchestral or concert band, percussionists often play several instruments in a single piece of music. This is especially true of contemporary and 20th century music where the use of percussion is more prevalent. A performance can be ruined if a percussionist drops an instrument as they move from station to station. Haphazard movements can also be very distracting to the audience.
Movement for Percussion is designed to teach percussionists to move quickly and quietly between instruments. Picking up and putting down instruments. Using different mallets, some times holding sticks in one hand and mallets in the other.
All the excercises are designed so that students practice with a conductor. They learn to keep calm while moving, keeping count in their head, and putting down and picking up instruments.
Volume One has 40 etudes, grouped in series of 10. The beginning etudes simply require movement between two instruments - such as bass drum and triangle. Later a third instrument is added and finally bells are added into the mix. Any mallet instrument may be substituted for bells.
Volume Two continues the theme of the first 40 etudes. All of them feature three instruments. The first half add the dimension of dynamics, which the second half adds mixed meters. As with the first series, half the etudes include bells.
Each Volume One etude has a companion video on this site so that students can watch a percussion student perform the etude with a conductor and observe the techniques used.
These videos use real students, so mistakes are sometimes made, but that helps show places you and your students can improve. We encourage you and your students to post your versions of the etudes. Who knows perhaps your video will be picked to be showcase on our site.
Don't just take our word on it...
“Cheri Redgrave has filled the gap! This book, Movement for Percussion, on its face provides etudes to teach students how to move quickly and quietly between percussion instruments. Besides filling a gap in teaching materials, it also makes students read ahead, and think about set-up and stick changes, all within the constraints of real musical parameters like meter, time keeping, and following a conductor. This book would be very useful in percussion pedagogy classes, as well as percussion teaching studios. The etudes are well thought out and thorough. I highly recommend it to all who teach percussionists.”
Theresa Dimond
Principal Percussion, LA Opera
Lecturer, Percussion, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music
Cheri Redgrave
MM Percussion Performance Univ. So. Cal. '87
Everything starts with the right teacher
After years of performing in orchestras, symphonic bands and other groups, one of the things I have noticed is that many younger performers and students fail to take the time to arrange their instruments and paths between playing stations before a concert. The result was missed cues, noise when moving instruments and in the worst case a dropped stick or instrument.
I once saw a percussionist on a riser with a set of chimes where the mallets were not safely secured. He reached across the chimes to grab his mallets only to have them fall some 10 feet to the stage below the riser. The noise was very disruptive to the piece, not to mention the embarrasment of having to climb down under the riser to retreive the fallen mallets while the concert played on.
That's when I decided to apply my experiences and knowledge to the task of writing this program of study for new percussion students, so they become familiar with the proper techniques and methods to ensure they can move quickly and quietly bewteen instruments.