This book is just brilliant. It is well thought and has a lot of exercises and ideas to work with. The playback tracks on the CD are very useful and the notation has a good system you will learn to deal with very fast. I can recommend this book to everybody!
Any sensible addition to timpani technique material is most welcome, but what's really interesting to me is that through this book students will be alerted to the magnificent musical creation of Bach's cantatas. Through his wide experience of the style Adrian Bending has given us a valuable learning resource for musician timpanists. David Corkhill - Timpanist, English Chamber Orchestra; former Principal Percussion, Philharmonia; Timpani teacher, Guildhall School of Music and Drama; Percussion teacher, Goldsmith's London University.
This is a great book to get students to understand the role timpani play in the orchestra. The exercises provide a musical framework to pedal, sing bass-lines and harmony as well as really listen to how your choice of note sits within the chord. I have enjoyed just playing through it myself as there is great playing and singing on the cd that accompanies the book.
I would definitely recommend this fun book for all levels and abilities of timpani and percussion players. Above all, it is a really enjoyable and creative way to sit and play the timps in short or long periods of practice. The book and top-draw recordings strongly encourage the use of musicianship as well as offering solid (and simple!) practical approaches to pedalling. You can easily dip in and out of the book and since there are a handful of progressive stages per chorale bassline it is highly adaptable to the level of player, drums, time and any other variant you might have!
I have been looking for a fun and constructive way to practice intonation on the timpani for ages! And there it is: Adrian Bending came up with an incredibly resourceful method, based on Bach's choral works (but not only... there are a few other surprises inside!), combined with little anecdotes, tips and tricks. Some of them are priceless! A must have, both for students and professional musicians!
A very thorough and well thought out book. The progressive aspect of the studies is most pleasing, and the CD is especially useful for checking your intonation. It does fill a gap that no one had realized existed . It will soon be on our college exam requirements for sure!
An easily accessible book that offers young players such as myself great advice on key areas of Timpani playing, whilst also getting the chance to play along to the beautiful music of Bach.
This book is a brilliant buy for anyone interested in timps - excellent content and instruction, beautiful presentation, and great FUN to practice along to such brilliant music. All timpanists should own this book ! :)
In Bending Bach's Basslines, Adrian has managed to hit upon a formula for successfully developing a student's technique and musicianship while also introducing them to a wealth of music not before associated with the timpani. What's more, this book works equally well for the young school pupil and the experienced music college student. No budding timpanist should be without it!
Bending Bach's Basslines is a book I'd very much like to recommend to all timpanists. It fills - quite fabulously - a gap in our literature that I'd never consciously realised even existed. Of all the many tutors and collections of studies I know (both in English and in German), I honestly don't feel any comes close to guiding and helping timpanists to develop their ears and so many facets of their technique in such a mercilessly musical way. Very methodical and well-paced, Adrian's approach encompasses aspects of making music with other instruments - most fundamentally with the human voice - that go far beyond the scope of any other tutor I know. It's benefitting me, no question!
Really well thought out book with some very useful commentary alongside the tutorials. Unique notation system makes the exercises easy to follow enabling you to focus on your tuning and playing with the music. The quality of the recordings is excellent too! A must for any timpanist looking for a fresh approach to practice and playing.
What a brilliant idea! A timpani book using great music as the foundation upon which we can explore concepts of phrasing, pedalling, intonation, sound quality etc etc. It's incredibly thoroughly produced - great little titbits of information about Bach, a helpful fold-out key, the very best recordings to play along to... etc etc. Thoroughly recommended!
Excellent method to work on tuning, phrasing and sound quality for timpanists. An intuitive way to practice ensemble playing with play-along and insightful information about Bach and timpani playing.
