Heartland Marimba Quartet Interview Sabrina Pena Young READ THE FULL MUSIC INTERVIEW HERE:  http://www.heartlandmarimbafestival.com/blog-newsletter/2017/3/5/blog-sabrina-pena-young Here at HMF we are committed to building a large community that surrounds and supports the classical marimba arts. To extend our appreciation, we are doing a question and answer with the artists in a blog series. First on the list is Sabrina Pena Young, a member of New York Women Composers, Inc. (NYWC). NYWC recently awarded HMF the 2016 NYWC Seed Money Grant.  We thought that Sabrina would be a great person to do our first blog with because of her unique personality and expansive background in music.  Read below to get a glimpse into her world. Short Bio: As a young girl Sabrina became interested in performing in all sorts of groups ranging from orchestras to rock bands. As she continued her education at the University of South Florida , she decided to take another path. “S...

English: Dixon double bass drum pedal Русский: Двойная педаль бас-барабана Dixon (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The recent surge in drum set popularity can be slightly attributed to video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band , which allow even music novices to perform like pro drum set players on their favorite music tunes. Before you make the transition from a video game drum set controller to a real drum set, you need to know what makes up a real drum set. While your drum set will reflect your personal tastes, the type of music you plan to play, and your budget, each drum set shares a few common components. A standard drum set will have a snare drum , a bass drum, high hat , toms, cymbals , bass pedal , and all of the necessary hardware to keep your drum set together. Other things may be added to the drum set, like a cowbell, a drum set tambourine, extra toms, a heavy floor tom , extra cymbals, wind chimes, or even a gong. I even had one drum set where I substituted the snare dru...

Uploaded on May 14, 2007 http://www.ted.com  In this soaring demonstration, deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie illustrates how listening to music involves much more than simply letting sound waves hit your eardrums. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate . Follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/tednews Checkout our Facebook page for TED exclusives https://www.facebook.com/TED === ABOUT SABRINA PENA YOUNG Award-winning composer Sabrina Pena Young is a foremost expert on Virtual Opera Production and Music Technology . A sought after consultant an...

When a percussion player is given a cymbal part, they may find themselves performing on a set of hand cymbals, rolling on a suspended cymbal , or jamming out a beat on a drum set. Different types of cymbals are used for each music situation. An extensive knowledge of the different cymbal types is necessary in order to better perform the music and avoid making a novice musician's mistakes. There are many different types of cymbals A ride cymbal is most commonly seen in a drum set situation. A ride cymbal is usually slightly heavier than a crash cymbal . The percussion player plays the ride cymbal with a stick. A traditional use of the ride cymbal is the use of it in jazz ensembles, where the percussion player performs the characteristic " tap , tap-ta-tap, tap-ta-tap" rhythm often associated with more traditional jazz styles. The ride cymbal often keeps the beat and slight music accents, and should not be used for heavy cymbal crashes. A crash cymbal is ofte...

Image via Wikipedia To mix authentic drum tracks, you need to know what a good drummer sounds like. Sure, you could set your band in the box to play some cheesy drum riffs , but real drummers add variety, excitement, riffs, solos, and insane beats that work musically and are pretty cool, too. So check out some of these drum solos to get some inspiration next time you need to mix a beat. Notice how Neil's beats work with the music and rhythm section and not against it. Lots of amateur drummers and recording artists don't realize that despite all the cheesy jokes, good drummers are great musicians. Their drumming is not all about the drummer, its about the music. Great example of a happening drum solo using electronics for Perfect Drug . Related articles by Zemanta Ayron Jones and the Way's Drummer Is Awesome DREAM THEATER Drummer Mike Mangini - "The Intentions Of The Band Are So Good That It...

Percussion 101: Percussion Families When most people ask what I play, I say "Percussion". They usually look at me with a questioning look, and a "Oh, that's nice". Then I say, "I play the drums." The lightbulb hits. "Oh, you are a DRUMMER!" Percussion is more than Animal banging on a set of toms. It is more than "More COWBELL!" and it is definitely more than that little monkey that plays the cymbals. There are several different groups of percussion instruments. Since percussion instruments essentially include anything you hit or shake to make noise (including noisemakers like bird whistles, car brake drums, radios, and the kitchen sink), being able to include every instrument seems like a daunting task.  Generally musicians group percussion into pitched and non-pitched percussion. Here are some basic pitched Percussion Instruments:  Pitched Metals : Bells, Crotales, Vibraphone, Chimes Pitched Wood : Marimba, Xylophone Pitched Drum...

Let's say you are aspiring to be the most memorable singer/songwriter/performer of all time, but it's the first time in that you have been in the studio and you are creating your first masterpiece.  Whether you are slamming together some sweet dance beats , crooning out a ballade, trippin' on rock n roll , composing your first string quartet , or trying to be the next Jordin Sparks, there are some things that will guarantee that your latest CD will end up at the bottom of the discard pile. So here you go, in no particular order: 20 Tips on How to Create Crappy Music 1) Make sure that your demo tape sounds like you recorded it at a construction site . The extra racket from the bulldozers and jackhammers will add a little bit of finesse to your delicate lyrics. 2) Make sure every lyric rhymes with the word " blue ".   3) If you can't afford a real musician to play the sick guitar solo, practice Guitar Hero  until you are blue in the face and then record your new...

When composing for percussion, it is important to know the difference between a variety of mallets. Although in most cases the percussionist will choose the proper mallets for the passage, sometimes as a composer, you want a particular sound. It is always good to research a mallet before indicating it in your score. Consult a percussion catalogue for a more in-depth look at the hundreds of mallets available. 1. YARN MALLETS They come in every dynamic range from supersoft baseball-sized to forte. They are the multi-purpose mallet, used for toms, suspended cymbal rolls, marimba, xylophone, woodblock, and pretty much anytime a percussionist doesn't have time to pick up another mallet. 2. CORD MALLETS These are harder than the yarn mallets. More effective on xylophone and vibes, these mallets can also be used for a variety of percussion instruments. 3. BRASS MALLETS These are for use on the glockenspiel/bells and the occasional brake drum. They produce a more "tinny" kind of ...