Holy moly - t's already August! Below, we talk about DCI Week, VDL Minus-One Recordings, Brian Slawson, and featured Tapspace products.

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DCI Week

By the time this email finds its way through the interwebs into your inbox, thousands of marching members and fans will be gathered in Indianapolis for the Drum Corps International (DCI) World Championships. As many of you know, Tapspace co-founders Jim Casella and Murray Gusseck were heading up the percussion section of the Santa Clara Vanguard when the the idea to form Tapspace was born. With fondness and admiration, we send a hearty GOOD LUCK to all who are participating at DCI. We hope the 2013 season has provided you with meaning and inspiration that will last a lifetime!

Murray and Jim with the 1997 Santa Clara Vanguard Percussion section - just as Tapspace was being formed.

Virtual Drumline Tip

Minus One Recordings

Whether you're ready for it or not, marching band season is here! While many of you are using Virtual Drumline to assist in the design process of your show, one tip that's helped many is to create "Minus One Recordings." These are essentially audio files that have one voice of the ensemble stripped away so those students can practice along with the rest of the group without hearing their own part. This technique can help students train their ears quickly to intuit the music once they're on the field which means: faster learning, faster memorization, and increased musical awareness in the ensemble!

1. Make your full audio track and provide it to all students

It's important for every musician, color guard member, drum major, and staff member to have up-to-date audio files of the show arrangements. Using the export/bounce features of your music creation software (Finale/Sibelius/Logic/etc), this is a snap. You may want to do a version with metronome and another without. Some people like to add a "countoff" track adding 8 counts up front using the familiar Dr. Beat-style metronome instrument from Virtual Drumline.

2. "Mute" one track (i.e. snare line) and export the file again.

With one track muted, the resulting file will play the entire ensemble minus that staff. Name the file accordingly (i.e. Opener-minus_snare.mp3). You can do this for each section you think will benefit from rehearsing this way. Alternately, rather than muting the track, you can decrease the volume on that track (staff) by -12db and have a faint trace that's much lower in the mix.

If you're a marching bass drum technician, try this technique with JUST the bass part. With a little savviness in your preferred music application, it's possible to filter out, say, the 2nd bass drum part out of 5, giving that player a chance to work his or her parts alone with the rest of the line outside of rehearsal!

Learn more about using VDL in Finale and Sibelius with Virtual Drumline Demystified - over 5 hours of on-screen training, hosted by VDL expert, Bryan Harmsen.

Artist Spotlight

BRIAN SLAWSON

Since his scholarship studies at The Juilliard School, Brian Slawson has continued to pioneer innovative paths in percussion. Grammy-nominated as "Best New Classical Artist," Brian has appeared on NBC's Tonight Show, Entertainment Tonight, The CBS Morning News, and NPR's "All Things Considered."

We recently sat down with Brian to learn a little more about what makes him tick.

Of all the pieces you've written or arranged, which one is your favorite, and why?

Vivaldi's "Winter," from my first recording, Bach On Wood, has always sounded fresh to me. Fortunately, the same character shines through in the Tapspace ensemble version!

Who is your favorite composer?

Ludwig van Beethoven tops the list of my favorite composers. In addition to possessing what Richard Wagner described as "an ungovernable sense of self," Beethoven, through the power of his music, refuted the "composer as servant" status quo and established musicians as "artists."

Who is your favorite author - book?

Literature and music are intrinsically connected. Great writing, from prose to poetry, always "sounds" great and deepens our perspective as artists. "The Stranger" by Albert Camus changed the game for me, and I haven't stopped reading since.

What's been your latest victory?

Since my teenage years, I've longed to own a set of Ludwig/Ringer timpani (discontinued years ago). As a longtime endorser of Ludwig/Musser instruments, I've never stopped pestering their Artist Relations reps to be on the lookout for a freak sighting. To everyone's astonishment, the last Ringers ever built were recently unearthed at the Ludwig plant in Monroe, NC and now live happily ever after in my road cases!

Favorite quote.

"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." - Ludwig van Beethoven

Learn more about Brian Slawson and view all his pieces in the Tapspace catalog.

Featured Items

Tons more downloadable marching music is available to preview on the Tapspace website!

As the school year ramps up, don't miss out on incorporating Five Minute Drill into your daily curriculum. Loaded with essential percussion exercises and entertaining audio tracks, this program helps young students build lasting foundations on practice pads and mallet keyboards.

Available in single copies, or discounted 5-student or 10-student packs!