Ahh! The summer is finally is over and it’s back to playing some percussion instruments. In my case that is often the triangle, a much maligned member of the percussive consort. A couple of weeks ago I played it in Ravel’s “Daphis et Chloe” and this weeks I’m playing it in Messiaen’s “L’Ascension.” The former is more involved, but it’s all bueno to me. For Daphnis, I slaved away in Sibelius, making a beautiful combined triangle, tambourine and castanet part of my very own. After it was lovingly printed out, my pal Henry Claude reminded me that such a thing already existed in one of Raynor Carroll’s excerpt books. It was sitting under my marimba the whole time! A Homer Simpson moment ensued as I palmed my forehead, but it turned out all right; I definitely learned the part and the score. Still, I’m going to flip through my rep books before taking that on again.
