From rudiments to micro etudes

Kaspars Kurdeko publishes an exercise book for the snare drum

A drummer and percussionist, Kaspars Kurdeko has prepared a textbook for percussionists and enthusiasts, «Micro etudes and exercises for a snare drum». The material created with the financial support of the State Culture Capital Foundation is a truly valuable addition to the educational literature collection on percussion instruments in Latvian. Latvian pedagogical practice has etude collections published by Larisa Puzule and Maija Švēdenberga that beginners in the first grades of music schools use. Meanwhile, the musicians of intermediate and professional levels didn’t have any material available that could compete with foreign literature.

As the author says, the book was created as a dedication and acknowledgment of his teachers who have inspired him to develop his skills and realize his musical potential. Kurdeko himself works as a teacher at Ventspils Music high school, and before that, he was one of the teachers at Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music.

The exercise book offers an exemplary and stylish design, the author of which is Ieva Upmace. Pages bound by a spiral and a pleasantly looking text, as well as notes, are there together with the visual materials, where in between precise hand movement illustrations and diagrams, one can find artistic photography by Toms Majors. This shows us the author from different angles. I also found it interesting that the material is offered in a horizontal (landscape) format instead of a vertical (portrait) design, just as most books usually do.

Before turning to a more detailed informational outline, Kurdeko gives a short introduction in his own musical biography that genuinely surprises and inspires. Musical horizons he’s touched begin with a xylophone and marches in a school brass orchestra and later on reach even jazz music studies in New York.

In a concentrated way, the author schematically and without any unnecessary words explains the main principles of hand movements in drumming. The attention is drawn to the main things in creating a sound. The meaning of «sweeping angles» gets explained, as well as the interaction of the other elements of playing the instrument (accents, touch, dynamics). The first pages of the book have a title page, followed by a poster of rudiments (short rhythmic phrases that contain the main principles of drums play). Combining these elements in different ways makes it possible to create compositions with different rhythms and dynamics. Similar principles can also be found in other ways of art, for example, choreography (tap dancing) or design of forms (playing with “lego” bricks). The author’s trying to translate specific drum terms from English to Latvian is also quite unusual and remarkable.

The collection of 117 etudes is divided into two parts. The first part contains 36 etudes, each of which has a name that draws attention to the elements on which the etude is based. For example, the daily training process can be dedicated to the “Change of accents” or “Parallel tritons”. Sometimes the names of the etudes point at specific hybrid rudiment names in English («Book Report», «Hertha», «Cheese») or geographic destinations where such means of expressions are characteristic too («Ireland», «Africa»). Special pictograms are also very pleasing – they provide information about the level of difficulty of the exercise and give methodological instructions, inviting you to listen, repeat, observe and pay attention to the details.

In the second part, the etudes aren’t given any names anymore – they are numbered. Pictograms with instructions aren’t seen anymore as, well. Some of the etudes (both in terms of length and difficulty) reach a sustainable volume so that they can function as compositions that can be played in a concert situation as well. Going through the material, the reader will see the combinations of the means of expression that can be most often seen while playing drums. Just as it is typical for drums and percussions, eighth and sixteenth notes can be seen mostly here and there, freshened up with fourths and thirty-twos. The etudes have pauses of the same lengths as well – if you read sheet notes, it can become a little bit clingy. Note lengths differ with some more advanced techniques – punctuation and free division. Throughout the whole book, the change of rhythm and dynamic gradations are also present.

Musicians with creative thinking will definitely notice and appreciate that every etude is an excellent raw material, ideas of which can be developed further. Letting the fantasy flow freely, phrases can be combined, reversed, moved, or varied until one could never know where it comes from. Adding feet and varying instrumentation, etudes can be played on a drum kit as well. This material can be challenging and exciting for the other instrumentalists as well – sound layout in time (in other words – rhythm) is actual for every single musician.

I advise the creators of this excellent material to consider the opportunities to translate this book and think about reaching a wider audience. Even though the material isn’t anything radically new, it is truly valuable and fundamental – so there can be no doubts about its actuality at all.