Aaron Rabushka asked:

>By the way, how do any percussion players on the list feel about these
>snare-drum ostinati? Do you look forward to playing them?

As a mere amateur in the field of orchestral percussion, my answer is a
very clear "No".  To do these well requires the moronic single-mindedness
of a drum machine combined with the ability to make these patterns
"breathe" and function organically with the rest of the music.  They're not
remotely difficult technically, except in the sense that the snare drum is
always extremely unforgiving of even the tiniest flaw in execution, but to
get behind the written part and play the music instead of just delivering
the notes is a big challenge.  Professionals I have talked to tend to feel
much the same way.  The "Bolero" part is exhausting mentally as well as
physically.  Just try tapping the pattern out on a table, in a continuous
crescendo for a quarter of an hour or more!  For anyone who can cope with
that doing it in the ordinary hand-to-hand way:R lrlR lrlR L R lrlR
lrlRlrLrl try the sticking someone once showed me, which keeps all the
accents in the same hand and therefore produces a much more even sound:
L rrrL rrrL L L rrrL rrrLrrLrr

Ian Crisp
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