Innovative techniques
Bärenreiter's excellent series of methods dedicated to contemporary instrumental techniques, aimed at performers and composers alike, has been expanded with two new bilingual volumes (German and English).
This book on the trombone is co-authored by two teachers from the Basel University of Music: trombonist and composer Mike Svoboda, creator of over 400 works, and Swiss composer Michel Roth. After a presentation of the different trombones, from soprano to double bass, the chapters focus on the tenor with barrel, a system that allows the instrument to be lowered by a fourth thanks to the lengthening of the air column, which not only extends the range, but also promotes greater virtuosity. The many possibilities of the slide instrument, often ignored by performers themselves, are examined methodically and systematically: percussive effects or air noises, micro-intervals or multiphonics, the use of numerous mutes or playing without embouchure, to name but a few. The book is complemented by 92 sound examples and five scores composed especially for the occasion, available on the publisher's website.
Most books devoted to percussion focus on the instruments themselves. The result of a collaboration between Michel Roth and percussionists Jens Ruland and Christian Dierstein (also a teacher at the Rhenish town's HEM, the latter has long worked as part of a research group exploring playing techniques from new perspectives), The Techniques of Percussion Playing on the other hand, is based on the various types of mallets, drumsticks, mallets and other excitatory agents, including electrical impulses, and their techniques. Based on the instrumental gesture, this fundamental complementary approach - which is also innovative, as this notion is still too often ignored by composers - offers a more global and dynamic vision of the interaction between the instrumentalist and the sounds produced. No fewer than 49 online instructional videos provide a lively introduction to the contents of this publication. There are also a dozen short essays by various percussionists and composers.
Mike Svoboda, Michel Roth: The Techniques of Trombone Playing / Die Spieltechnik der Posaune, 146 p., € 54.00, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2017, ISBN 978-3-7618-2367-5
Christian Dierstein, Michel Roth, Jens Ruland: The Techniques of Percussion Playing / Die Spieltechnik des Schlagzeugs. Mallets, Implements and Applications / Schlägel, Anreger und Anwendungen, 337 p., € 58.00, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2018, ISBN 978-3-7618-2406-1
