No comments about The World Market for Percussion Musical Instruments, Drums, Xylophones, Cymbals, Castanets, and Maracas: A 2004 Global Trade Perspective.

1 comments about "Finger Cymbal Fantasies".

1. I gave a 3 star because the exercises build in a way that makes the learning easy. However, the quality of my tape was marginal. But the thing that I did not like is that the recording is only on ONE side of the cassette. The second side is blank and in my opinion seems amateurish.

No comments about The 2007 Import and Export Market for Percussion Musical Instruments, Drums, Xylophones, Cymbals, Castanets, and Maracas in Switzerland.

No comments about The 2007 Import and Export Market for Percussion Musical Instruments, Drums, Xylophones, Cymbals, Castanets, and Maracas in Sweden.

No comments about Orchestral Repertoire for Bass Drum & Cymbals.

No comments about Sounding Brass and Clanging Cymbals : The History and Significance of Instrumental Music in the Restoration Movement (1827 - 1968).

2 comments about Polyrhythms for the Drumset.

1. This book is abrilliant piece of work from Peter Magadini. Peter has considered all levels of professionals starting from the novice to the expert who can go on a roll on the drumset. A handy piece of talent is in there with enough tunes to practise making the user a familiar drummer in all the various kinds of music that he can be exposed to. With sufficient pracise to these tunes the drumset player can blend himself into various kinds of music or even practise for fusion of Indian & Western classical. In short "A GOOD BUY WORTH EVERY CENT"



2. I would first like to start out by saying that Mr. Magadini has created a reasonable workbook for polyrhythms and that it is a worth purchasing. I am sure he put effort and creativity into the accompanying CD and the excercises. Polyrhythms are a valuable and powerfully expressive
   discipline, and there aren't many books that adress them.
   However - There are a number of things wrong with this book that will thwart the studen't attempt to really understand polyrhythms and perform them, and I could foresee any drummer without a teacher quickly throwing this text away in frustration, or working through the examples but never understanding them, and always playing them with apprximations and errors.
   So let me first state that THIS TEXT DOES NOT EXPLAIN POLYRHYTHMS. The excercises are reasonable and good, but no explanation of really anything is given. It is easy to notate some polyrhythmic excercises, and certainly Magadini has spent the time to make the excercises worthwhile, I'm not saying that part is easy - he deserves some credit - but that is all you will find here. All excercises are naturally notated as tuplets, with no explanation of any of them whatsoever, and no breakdown of their timing so that they can be understood pricesely. So now, let me clarify some things for you here so that when you purchase this book, you can work through it with understanding.
   
   First - Spend some time with a metronome on 60-65bpm and using two handed sticking (LRLRLRLetc.) play 2 beats per click, then 3 per click and get the feel for 3, then 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Now spend shifting back and forth between them - one click gets two beats, the next click gets a triplet; shift between them in different patterns (but not at once as in polyrhythm) and really get the feel for tuplets of all kinds. It is important to really ground the tuplets into your understanding so you can play them naturally, at least up to 7 at first. You can increase the bpm as you get more proficient.
   
   Second - Now for combining those polyrhythms. Okay, now that you understand and can play a 7 tuplet and a 3 tuplet naturally, you can play them together at the same time in 4/4 no problem...so...GO! Oh wait, you mean it's mind-fu@#ingly hard to just do it like that? Yes it is, most certainly, don't feel bad, it's not you. So let me break it down for you. Our normal understanding and ability to parse the space between a beat usally lies in the realm of 4 - 1 e + a (Read one E and A) or 3 - 1 A a (Read one and A). So when combining 4 beats with a 7 tuplet in 4/4 requires that that each quarter note be subdivided into 7 subbeats in order to accurately play 4 against 7. Like this... in 4/4 ->
   
   (I apologize for the horrible formatting - there is nothing I can do about it - I would recommend rewriting these examples on paper yourself, because the text here is not the same as I typed it.)
   
   1 - - - - - - 2 - - - - - - 3 - - - - - - 4 - - - - - - :
   1 - . - 2 - . - 3 - . - 4 - . - 5 - . - 6 - . - 7 - . - :
   
   Now - how can anybody really conceptually or verbally (1 e A a) split up every beat of 4/4 into 7 at a moderate to fast tempo? Try thinking or verbally saying 1eAaeAa at 160bpm - You can't - which is why -
   
   When first learning a polyrhythm you take the larger number and renotate the excercise in a time signature represented by the larger number.
   So let's give it a try. You want to play 7 against 4 in 4/4? Well, great. You can do that. But first renotate it in 7/4. (I don't have graphics here so I can't upload the actual notation) Like this...
   
   (Once again, due to amazon's formatting - please rewrite this example on paper so you can see for yourself)
   
   1 e A a 2 e A a 3 e A a 4 e A a 5 e A a 6 e A a 7 e A a :
   x . . . x . . . x . . . x . . . x . . . x . . . x . . . :
   x . . . . . . x . . . . . . x . . . . . . x . . . . . . :
   
   Thus now you have a beats on -
   1---2--a3---4-A-5---6e--7---
   
   Now you can play the polyrhythm accurately and perfectly at a slow speed, increase the speed more and more, making sure that you are still playing it correctly and not shifting the subdivisions. Once you truly understand the polyrhythm this way you can verbalize (yes out loud, and still in 7/4) just the 7 beats while still accurately playing the 4 against them, and then switch to verbalizing the 4 while still playing the 7 accurately against them. When you do this verbalization you may find that you start messing the other one up, this is fine, keep practicing at a slower tempo and then speed up when you got it. When you can do all of this, then you can play the rhythm in 4/4 accurately. Just listening to the CD examples, especially when they are not played in all tempos is a frustrating and innacruate way to learn, and you will never truly conceptually understand what you are doing, and it will indeed fall apart.
   
   
   Third - The first several pages increase in complexity at such speed and without any true explanation of anything that I would perhaps recomend perhaps just going to around page 7 or 8 and starting from those excercises onward. It's up to you.
   
   Fourth - I would like to emphasize once again that there is no true explanation of anything, just excercises here. Magadini rules, he deserves respect, I am glad he spend time and effort making this book, but it could most certainly use a revision taking in mind better organization, also breaking down the polyrhthms so that the student can really understand them, and explain compositionally some theory behind polyrhythms. So with that in mind...
   
   If you would like to actually understand a bit more about polyrhythms from a compositional perspective I would recommend reading the rhythm secion of New Music Resources by Henry Cowell - which explains the harmonic ratios of polyrhythms as consonance and dissonance according to the harmonic series. Also of interest would be the Book I of the Schillinger System of Musical Composition by Joseph Schillinger which explains interference patterns (complete or incomplete) as the basis of all rhythms in existence, and he expounds upon this throughout the System in great detail. Both of these books are rare and probably out of print, but at least provide a unique theoretical framework from which to work with polyrhythms.
   
   So my hopes of this review are that you don't have to figure everything out on your "own", and that your learning process can be a more fluent and rewarding experience. Have fun renotating.
   
   Eric Belcastro

No comments about The Sound of Drums and Cymbals.

No comments about CYMBALISMS: A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR THE ORCHESTRAL CYMBAL PLAYER BK/2CDS (Book & CD).

3 comments about Zildjian: A History of the Legendary Cymbal Makers.

1. Let me start off by saying that I'm a drummer. Not only that, I'm a drummer who gets a bit obsessive about his equipment. Even so, when I first saw this book, I thought, "Who the heck would want a book about a cymbal company?". All I had to do was open this book in order to find my answer.

   This book appeals on many levels. For one thing, it's a music fan's dream. Imagine what you would look for if you were let loose to find the "cool stuff" in Zildjian's archives - that's what you'll find here. Great drummers have been touring the Massachusetts factory for eighty years, and this book has the pictures to prove it. How about letters? They've reproduced one from Gene Krupa letting the Zildjian folks know how happy he is with his latest shipment, and one from the U.S. Government giving Zildjian permission to buy extra copper during World War II (and there are plenty of other letters and advertisements reproduced in the book). This book also tells a success story - how a company founded in 1623 is still going strong (perhaps stronger than ever). Finally, and maybe most importantly, it tells the story of a family. In that respect, the author and the Zildjian Company (and this book really is, in all practical terms, the story according to Zildjian) deserve a lot of credit for their willingness to "tell it like it is". Not only did they mention that after the death of Avedis Zildjian III in 1979, son Robert left the company to form a competing cymbal company, they pretty much said that they didn't blame him for doing it.

   If you want to buy a book with loads of scholarly text and only handful of photo plates, this isn't the book for you. This is an EXCITING book (maybe even TOO exciting for some tastes). The layout varies from page to page, with plenty of pictures and lots of color. It is also a high quality book, with sturdy, fold-in covers and beautiful printing and illustrations. If you know a drummer who cares at all about his or her art, this book would make a great gift.




2. Cymbal is manufacturing in Turkey since 1623. An alchemist named Avedis had manufactured cymbals for Ottoman Empire's Military Band (Mehter) with his own processing secrets and his cymbals has very powerful and clear sound. He had migrated to America in about last years of 19th. century. His brother Korepes Zildjian had continued to live and manufacture Zildjian brand cymbals in Istanbul then Mikail Zildjian who is the grandchild of Korepes. At those days two children had begun to work in Mikail Zildjian's workshop one of them Mehmet Tamdeger and the other is Agop Tomurcuk They were at eight years old when start to work. M. Zildjian passed away in 1978 after selling his cymbal workshop in 1950. Mehmet and Agop had restarted to manufacture cymbals in 1981 under name of ðstanbul cymbals. And working continue but Agop died last year.



3. I have played Zildjians all my life but this author seems to be on the Zildjian company payroll. Some good pictures but the rest is a Zildjian 'brain wash'. The Zildjian history is confusing and the overall book is poorly layed-out. You have to skip over many pages of poor quality pictures to continue to read again. You know like magazines articles where they say 'contined on pp. xxx', that kind of stuff. Book reads like a Zildjian magazine ad. Buy 'The Cymbal Book' instead.