Disqus - Latest Comments for dmalwolf13

Re: Win A VIP Flyaway For Two! | September 21 & 22, 2013 | Nashville, TN

David Wolf — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 19:18:02 -0000

My wife and I have long been foodies and love to splurge on great food. We have never been to Nashville or a food festival like this. There are so many great chefs that are going to be there that it would be so cool to have this be our first food festival!

Re: Percussion Axiom TV

David Wolf — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:54:10 -0000

My favorite thing about PASIC is a two part answer. First I love seeing people that I only get to see once a year: former classmates, teachers, colleagues, etc. It is great that we have such a successful convention where we can all gather to catch up and see each other. My other favorite things is exposing myself to new artists or areas of percussion that I don't spend much time with. The diversity of the sessions is amazing if you think about it. PASIC really covers a wide range of areas of percussion - exactly what a convention like this should do!

Re: Percussion Axiom TV

David Wolf — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:49:27 -0000

I'm going to have to put another vote in for Miki's "Time for Marimba." What I love about this piece is that there are so many moods and colors invoked from a relatively small amount of seed material. Miki's ability to take the rows that he based the piece off of and create so much variety is incredible. I would love to hear your thoughts about this piece in a future episode, Dr. Burritt. I don't know if this is your intent or not, but you could very easily do a series of episodes about the pieces that you mentioned. They are all so important to the repertoire.

Speaking of Time, I'll be performing it tomorrow night!

Re: Percussion Axiom TV

David Wolf — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:50:38 -0000

There seems to be a common trend that is right along the lines of my thoughts on this subject. The chamber percussion setting is such a great place to develop your ensemble ears and communication skills. I know it certainly was for me! Not that there is anything wrong with larger percussion ensembles or percussion orchestras, but they operate just a little bit differently. In a setting of 3, 4, 5 or 6 percussionists, you really take ownership of every aspect of the music and develop a collective direction that isn't quite the same. It is more intense and, I think, more rewarding. While I've had great experiences and performances in a larger, conducted percussion ensemble setting, I think that my best learning and performing experiences have come from smaller, un-conducted ensembles.

Re: Percussion Axiom TV

David Wolf — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:56:24 -0000

My most interesting/rewarding case of playing excerpts with an orchestra was when I played the snare drum part for Scheherazade during my master's degree. I had worked on the part several times over the previous couple of years and then to finally play it with a living, breathing orchestra (rather than just my recordings) was such a cool experience. It was interesting to hear the music from the back of the orchestra, rather than from the front as on the recordings, and play the part. I had to make several adjustments to how I was thinking/hearing of some of the parts.

Re: Percussion Axiom TV

David Wolf — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:50:19 -0000

Great episode again! I'm going to have to add the first exercise that you mentioned and demonstrated to my warm-up/technique routine.

To answer your question of the episode, I'm very excited about my first college level teaching gig that I'm in right now. It's only a semester long position (I'm covering for a sabbatical replacement). However, I have really been enjoying this first teaching experience on my own. It has presented me with numerous challenges, but I'm loving it!

Re: Percussion Axiom TV

David Wolf — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:29:02 -0000

You gave a great explanation of the malletech's capabilities without getting too much into the physics, which was nice. It was very concise. What you talked about is one of the main reasons why I purchased a malletech 5.0 myself seven years ago (another reason being the great sound in the bottom octave!) This is an important feature to be able to have on our instrument. I like to think of bars that don't have the optimum tone & sustain being equivalent, in a way, to wind/brass/string instruments playing out of tune. This is the way that we are able to control our tone on a regular basis. I know that intonation is different from tone, however, I think my the point I'm trying to make is clear.

To answer your question of the episode: It pains me to say this (I got my master's at OU), but I think that the Longhorns win total will be higher than the Bills' loss total. It's not quite fair though, because the Bills have more games to play.

Re: Percussion Axiom TV

David Wolf — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 21:33:38 -0000

I too enjoy this aspect of our instrument. I'm with Jeff - I'm going to wait and see what part 2 brings before I really chime in on this.

Re: Percussion Axiom TV

David Wolf — Sat, 09 May 2009 13:26:31 -0000

Blocking is such a useful tool! I use it as much as I can and suggest it to my students whenever it is applicable. It is a great way to learn and organize a passage of music in a more categorical way. The latest piece that I have used it for was Debussy's "Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum."