#322 Glen Velez- Frame Drum Master, Composer, Educator and More!
FOUR TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNER, Glen Velez is the founding Father of the modern frame drum movement and is regarded as a legendary figure among musicians and audiences world-wide. Velez brought a new genre of drumming to the contemporary music scene by creating his own performance style inspired by years of percussion and frame drumming studies from various cultures. Velez’s virtuosic combinations of hand movements, finger techniques, along with his original compositional style, which incorporates stepping, drum language and Central Asian Overtone singing (split-tone singing), has undoubtedly opened new possibilities for musicians around the globe, resulting in a shift in modern percussion.
VELEZ IS THE FIRST PERCUSSIONIST to gain international recognition as a successful solo artist using frame drums. In 1989 Velez’s undeniable mastery caught the attention of twentieth century composer John Cage, who wrote Composed Improvisation for One-Sided Drum with or without Jingles especially for Velez. His extensive array of frame drum innovations and sounds have inspired decades of collaborations with an epic and eclectic list, including Steve Reich, the Paul Winter Consort, Suzanne Vega, Maya Beiser, Tan Dun and Pat Metheny. Other collaborations include: Israel Philharmonia, Brooklyn Philharmonia, Opera Orchestra of New York, Taipei Chinese Orchestra, Zakir Hussain, Sonny Fortune, New York City Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, David Darling, Howard Levy, Eugene Friesen and Coleman Barks. Live performances also include radio concerts and interviews broadcasted on Spanish National Radio 4, German Public Radio, Italian National Radio 3, Radio Freistadt (Austria). Velez maintains an International touring schedule as a soloist and continues to collaborate with prominent artists in many styles. His Ta Ka Di Mi Duo with virtuoso Rhythm Vocalist Lori Cotler has garnered critical and audience acclaim around the world.
THE VELEZ SIGNATURE SOUND CAN BE HEARD ON NUMEROUS FILMS, television commercials and modern dance scores. He is also an experienced collaborator in Early Music, including two renowned recordings with the Ensemble for Early Music entitled Istampita I and II. Velez has recorded on hundreds of albums on ECM, CBS, RCA, GRP, Warner Brothers, Deutsche Gramophone, Geffen, Nonesuch, Capital, CMP, Music of the World, Sounds True, Interworld, Ellipsis Arts, Daftof Records and Sony. In addition he has released numerous recordings of his own music. Glen’s most recent recordings are Glen Velez Solo and Breathing Rhythms Duo – Glen Velez and Lori Cotler (Daftof records).
GLEN IS A PROLIFIC COMPOSER whose compositions have been used extensively by dance companies, and he has written numerous compositions for his own ensembles as well as chamber music for various combinations. His compositions have been commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation, Jerome Foundation, American Music Center and Reader’s Digest. Velez wrote a solo cello piece for Cellist Maya Beiser, entitled Kinship, which Beiser chose as the title for one of her recent CD’s. Another of Glens compositions, Sol Tunnels, was commissioned by the Ethos Percussion Ensemble and is the title of one of their new recordings. In 2009 the Ensemble DuoJalal premiered his composition Homage for Viola and Frame Drum. His most recent composition is entitled Intarsio for String Quartet and Frame Drum, commissioned by the Lark String Quartet.
VELEZ HAS SEVERAL INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS and has published numerous instructional books and articles on the subject. He is a master teacher who conducts workshops worldwide. Velez developed his own teaching approach called The Handance Method. It incorporates voice and body movement into the process of learning to play the frame drum and has been presented in dozens of universities and conservatories. Velez is an adjunct professor at Mannes School of Music in New York City and conducts regular master classes at The Juilliard School and Tanglewood Summer Music Program. Glen’s groundbreaking research efforts into the history of the frame drum has inspired a host of his protégé to continue the quest into the mystery of the frame drum’s origins.
THE FRAME DRUM IS ONE OF THE MOST ANCIENT TYPES OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. It is a single-headed drum, which includes the Western tambourine, whose origins encompass the ancient Middle East, India, Rome and which reached medieval Europe through Islamic culture. During Glen Velez’s illustrious career he has single-handedly popularized this ancient drum for the modern world. His performances prompted the Remo Drum Co. in 1983 to develop a line of frame drums called the Glen Velez Signature Series. The Cooperman Drum Co. introduced a hand made Signature Series Glen Velez Tambourine and Frame Drum line in 1999. Velez is also considered a virtuoso on other percussion instruments and has introduced dramatic innovations in the playing of maracas and shakers, which are outlined in his instructional book, The Shaker Manual. This new approach to playing shakers led the German based instrument company Anklang Musikwelt to release a handcrafted Glen Velez Signature Series Shaker set. These instruments are carefully designed based on their specific high – low tuning and ergonomic shape.
R.I.P.
Rest in peace to the great Wayne Shorter. Wayne, the 12-time Grammy-winning saxophonist and composer and the creator of one of the singular sounds in contemporary jazz over more than half a century, died on Thursday, March 2 in Los Angeles. Shorter was 89 years old. -Article
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Gerald Myles! Gerald is the founder, director, and premier drummer of MylesOfDrums.com. Born and raised outside of New York City, he is the third generation of professional drummers. By the age of 15, Gerald began winning numerous regional and national awards for his playing abilities. His training includes attending the prestigious Hartt School of Music and University Of Massachusetts as a Jazz Performance major. He was named the United States’ best up and coming “Blues, Pop, and Rock” drummer and “Studio Jazz Orchestra” drummer by the world renowned DownBeat Magazine at age 21.
Gerald spent several years in the Orlando, Florida area drumming for Walt Disney World and Cirque Du Soliel, while playing and recording for countless bands and artists.
From 2005 to 2009 Gerald became a member of The Volunteers; the official touring show band of the United States Army. With the Volunteers he toured the United States playing high profile shows such as NFL games, the closing of Yankee Stadium and President Obama's inauguration, all while regularly recording in their multi-million dollar recording facility.
In addition to operating MylesOfDrums.com, Gerald continues to freelance and teach in the Tri-State area. He has built a Pro Tools and Logic Pro based drum recording studio in his privately owned home in Norwalk, CT. His career has spanned many genres and has prepared him to perform and record virtually any style of music.
Happy Birthday to John Roesch! John is a professional foley artist that has worked in the film business for over 30 years. He was an actor at Radnor High School and attended the United States International University School for Preforming Arts in San Diego for one year. During that time, he, along with 3 other peers, created a short film called " Indian Magic is What You See". This won the San Diego Film Festival in 1972, Spring-boarding from there, he attended New York University and graduated with a BFA in Film. He then applied and was accepted to the American Film Institute as a Directing Fellow . As fate would have it, a fellow filmmaker asked if he could "help" with the sound on the film she was working on and that was his first taste of foley and he never looked back from there. He is a member of Local 700 , Motion Picture Sound Editors, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He still loves his job to this day. He credits much of his success to those he has met along the way. Here is A list of movies that John and his team have provided foley on.
Happy Birthday to Mike Zellers! Michael currently serves as the Director of Percussion at Leander High School in Leander, TX. In addition to working with the high school students at Leander, Michael is also the percussion director at Running Brushy Middle School. Zellers received his Master in Music Performance from the University of Delaware and his Bachelor’s Degree from West Chester University.
Michael Zellers is currently the electronics designer for the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle corps form Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to joining Boston’s staff, Michael served on the percussion staff of The Cadets from 2011-2015. He served as a front ensemble technician from 2011-2013 and the Electronics designer from 2013-2015. During his time with The Cadets, the corps won their 10th DCI World Championship in 2011 and The Cadets Percussion section received the Fred Sanford Award for Best Percussion Performance in 2013. In addition to his most recent work with the Cadets, Zellers has worked with the Jersey Surf and Reading Buccaneers.
Happy Birthday to Eduardo Leandro! Eduardo teaches percussion at Stony Brook University in new York, where he is also the artistic director of its new music ensemble, the Contemporary Chamber Players. He taught at the Haute École de Musique de Genève and directed the percussion program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst between 1999 and 2007. He has conducted some of the most important pieces of the twentieth century, including Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and Chamber Symphony, Ligeti’s Piano and Chamber Concertos, Messiaen’s Exotic Birds, Xenakis’ Palimpsest, Boulez’s Derives I, and several premieres for mixed ensemble. He has also conducted great part of the percusion ensemble repertoire from Varèse’s Ionization onwards.
As a percussionist Eduardo Leandro has performed with ensembles such as the Steve Reich Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Bang-on-a-Can All Starts. He is part of the Percussion Duo Contexto, wich was an ensemble in residence at the Centre Internacional de Percussion in Geneva for ten years. He played regularly with Ensemble Champ d'Action in Belgium, with Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and with Ensemble Contrechamps in Switzerland, under the direction of Pierre Boulez, Heinz Holliger, and David Robertson among others.
He has performed in music festivals throughout the world such as the Suita Music Festival in Osaka, Ferienkurse fur Neue Muzik Darmstadt, Festspiel in Salzburg, Ars Musica in Brussels, Archipel in Geneva, Nits de Altea in Spain, Espinho Music Meeting in Portugal, Izmir Music Festival in Turkey, Athenaeum Concert Series in Helsinki and Festival d'Automne in Paris.
He has won the New Music Contest in Dusseldorf, Germany, and the second prize in the Eldorado Competition in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was a judge at the 2nd. International Marimba Competition in Osaka.
Eduardo Leandro was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He attended the Sao Paulo State University, the Rotterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands, and Yale University, having studied percussion with John Boudler, Jan Pustjens, and Robert van Sice.
He has had the kind support of Vic Firth Mallets and Pearl Instruments for the last several years.
Gig Alerts
The Doobie Brothers have announced a 35-date tour from June to October 2023 as an extension of their 50th anniversary tour. -Article
You can see friends of the show, Marc Quiñones and Ed Toth playing percussion and drums (respectively) with that band.
The Glastonbury festival lineup has been announced.
The Sound on Sound festival has also announced their lineup, and presale tickets go on sale Thursday.
Educational Spotlight
Need help with Instagram not working? It’s easier to fix than you think. Here’s a list of the quickest and best ways to get it working again. -Article
The @IG for Music Partners page is full of new feature alerts, as well as, tips and tricks for success from the Music Partnerships Team for musicians and music creators on Instagram.
PASIC is scheduled for November 8th-11th 2023.
There are also a bunch of music scholarships now available through the Percussive Arts Society page.
Iconic Recording
Glen picked the iconic recording of “Fool on the Hill” by the Beatles, performed by Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66.
Music News
StubHub says the FAIR Ticketing Act is “particularly concerning” in a marketplace where Live Nation and Ticketmaster “regularly manipulate the release of ticket supply and availability to take advantage of high demand through dynamic ticket pricing.” -Article
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT) are calling for the Department of Justice to continue investigating Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s anti-competitive practices. -Article
Glen Velez Interview
The song leading into the interview is “Mirrors” by Glen Velez from the “Rhythm of the Chakras” album.
Damon was first introduced to Glen when his friends studied with him at the HARTT school of music.
Glen’s uncle introduced him to the drums and percussion in the Dallas Texas area.
Glen learned the melodic percussion in high school, then attended the Manhattan School of Music.
Damon mentions Fred Hinger and his timpani mallets. Glen talks about what he was taught by Fred. Damon mentions the pedals on the Hinger style timpani.
Paul Price was one of the inspirations for wanting to go to the Manhattan School of Music and other 20th century composers.
Glen got drafted and ended up playing in an Army band in Germany.
Glen also plays different shakers really well too! He mentions learning Joropo style Venezuelan maracas.
The tambourine was the first frame drum Glen was introduced to, but after that, the Kanjira was next.
He talks a little about the Italian Tamburello.
Shout-out to Steve Reich, Bob Becker and Russell Hartenberger.
Shout-out to Charlie Morrow.
Glen talks about blending techniques on different types of frame drums.
Glen studied pandeiro with Dom Um Romão.
Glen talks about the history of the Daf/Toff and the first frame drums.
Damon brings up the women’s role in playing frame drums. Glen elaborates with talk of priestess, deities and more.
Glen has been doing split tone/overtone singing as well.
Glen talks about meeting Steve Reich.
Glen is halfway done with his new album, “Cosmic Dogs”. He talks about the inspiration for this project.
Damon mentions the relationship with dogs and cheetahs.
Glen picks the iconic recording. Honorable mention goes to “A Love Supreme” by John Coltrane.
Glen uses Cooperman Drums and Grassy Creek Brooms.
Glen studied with: Ramnad Rhagavan, Hanna Mirhige, Michel Baklook, Zevulon Avsholamov, and Fred Hinger
You can follow Glen on his Website. He sells his drums, caxixi and more from there.
The song leading out of the interview is “Third Eye” by Glen Velez from the “Rhythm of the Chakras” album.
