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Jim Ancona
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10 Questions with Jim Ancona
On a bus in the middle of "Blazing-Heat-Texas" Jim Ancona took the time to answer a few questions for LotPatrol.
Jim Ancona is the Percussion Caption Head for the Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps.Jim is an assistant professor of music at the University of Delaware where he works with the Blue Hen Marching Band, is director of the Basketball Pep Band and is co-director of the Symphonic Band. Jim received his bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his master's degree in performance from Indiana University where he was awarded the Performer's Certificate.
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Jim Ancona |
What is the ultimate goal when playing with the snares tilted?
Playing on a tilted drum seems to be less forced but in a sense allows
the left hand to become more “lazy” as less rotation is needed to lift
the stick.
We, as well as others, tilt the snares because it is more
ergonomically correct and helps both hands and arms to relax.
Traditional grip was developed to play on marching drums with
slings (hundreds of years ago), so naturally it makes sense to try to
imitate the “slung” look with a tilt. People also tend to overlook the
fact that this relaxes the right hand as well. The right hand is at a
slight angle and this lets the elbow hang a bit more thereby
relaxing the entire arm. Does this make the left hand lazier?
Certainly not. A 15 inch stroke height is still a 15 stroke height and
a triplet roll at 208 is still a triplet roll at 208 – it doesn’t matter
whether your drum is tilted or not.
Over the past 10 years we’ve seen several variations on
marching tilted snares; slightly less than parallel to the opposite
extreme. For a person wanting to approach this technique with their
drumline how can they set this up properly for the students and create
the best sound and technique?
We don’t have a real scientific or exact approach to this. We don’t
set a specific angle or anything like that. We just set the drum to
the hands of each player. I’ve seen some groups tilt the drum WAY
too far. That may be comfortable for the left hand, but can really
screw up the approach with the right hand. So, again, take both
hands into account when setting the drum.
The major drumming dynasty lines all appear to have a certain
image or stereotype attached to them, something we all expect to see
from them, a specific style that makes a line identifiable without the
uniform on. Cavaliers seem to be a name included in those
conversations; do you have any hesitations at all coming into the
Cavalier program with your style and methods?
I’ve always thought that specific styles and approaches were
attached to instructors, not to the organizations. For example, I
was with SCV from 2000-2004. The battery played completely
different in 2001 then say 2004. Why? Because in 2001 David
Reeves was running the battery and in 2004 Murray Gusseck was
running the battery. Both were great lines, but which is the SCV
technique? Who knows – but I do know wherever David and Murray
go, all their lines play their styles. As for coming to the Cavaliers,
there was no hesitation. The organization knew full well that we
would be changing some of the technique and obviously the writing
would be different. Everyone here, staff and members, have been
incredibly supportive and welcoming.
From your past corps instruction experiences compared to The
Cavaliers, are there any major changes or differences in your teaching
style or arranging process? –Or is each situation 100% unique?
I don’t think any of us have changed our teaching techniques.
That’s really an extension of your personality and that’s tough to
change. We have had to adapt to different situations, but
everything is pretty much the same. As for the writing process, I
can’t speak for Jim Casella, but I know he was very excited to work
with the creative team at the Cavaliers – Richard Saucedo, Michael
Gaines, Scott Koter – give me a break, those guys are incredible!
From what I’ve seen of the process, it is very much a team effort
and no egos are involved. That’s part of the reason The Cavaliers
have such great integration of the music and visual, they all want
the entire product to be the best, not just their sections.
Over the past few years there have been subtle changes to the
front ensemble percussion (amplification). How can the drumline be
changed or improved upon? Lines have been using the same
instruments (high tension snares, multi-tenors, basses) for years,
can’t somebody do something different?
Amplification has allowed us to experiment with some new colors in
the pit (we’re using a typewriter and a waterphone this year –
COOL stuff), but the pit has also evolved over the past 10 years
with much better instruments, mallets and the quality of the
players is always improving. Actually, I think many changes have
happened for the battery as well. Consider the variety in drum
manufacturers, dimensions and types of shells, heads, sticks and
mallets from even ten years ago. Lines can customize their sound
like never before. I’m not sure how much more there is left to do
with the instruments, but I’m sure there is plenty of ground left to
be discovered with writing and arranging. The more that people
listen to new music and experiment with different styles and hybrid
mixes of styles, the more cool stuff we’re going to hear. There is
new and innovative stuff every year in WGI, BOA and DCI.
In the LotPatrol interview with Nick Angelis, he commented on
coming into a program and how members are loyal to either the corps
or the staff (i.e. staying with the corps if the staff changes or following
the staff as they move to another ensemble). What is your experience
with this and/or how has it made itself apparent with Cavaliers?
I’ve found over the years that with the top corps (top 4 or 5) the
members tend to be loyal to the organization. For a lot of players, it
was a dream to wear a certain uniform and play with a certain line.
It didn’t always matter who was teaching. That was certainly the
case with me, I’m from the east coast (Connecticut) and the Cadets
were all I knew. My dream was to wear that uniform and be a part
of their history. So I totally respect people sticking with their
groups. Of course, this was true of the Cavaliers as well. We had
most of the members who could return come back to march again
this year, even with a new arranger, caption head and partially new
staff.
Sticks, heads, drums, mallets, tuning – What is some of the
process you go through for tuning and implement/head selection and
some of the tools you use to create the Cavaliers’ sound?
Sticks and mallets – Innovative Percussion Casella snare sticks for
snares and tenors. Tenors also use the FT-4A mallet. Innovative
hard and puffy bass mallets. The pit is using Field Series, Ancona
Series, Casella Series, Ross Series, and Engelman Series mallets.
All drum and pit gear is Yamaha. We use Remo Black Max on top
for snares and Falams on the bottom, Suedes on tenors except the
6” when we use smooth, white emperors. Ambassadors on all bass
drums with internal muffling.
What should a spectator watch for in particular during the show?
What is your favorite moment?
When I watch this show I’m drawn in to the integration. Watch how
the drill affects the music and vice-versa. Watch how the guard
portrays every musical nuance. Listen to when the show starts (all
percussion) how it sounds like different machines in a factory
starting up and creating controlled chaos. This is some wild stuff!
Two of my favorite moments, for percussion, are the interlude
between the first and second movement and the fourth movement
feature. For the interlude, the music was written to imitate the drill!
There are amazing sounds and a perfect blend of music and motion.
With the fourth movement percussion feature there are, again,
amazing sounds from the pit (including the typewriter) and an all
out assault of notes from the battery. The battery also has some
very difficult marching here – they march to the accents in their
music not the quarter note pulse. This, and really the whole show,
is some of my favorite stuff ever from Jim Casella.
Where’s the best place to catch a show, the lot or the stadium?
For me, and I’m an old fuddy-dud, it’s in the stadium. As I said, I
want to see the whole package. I want to hear how the percussion
is a part of the whole musical ensemble. I want to see the color
guard and the drill and how it’s integrated with the music. That’s
not to say I don’t appreciate the Lot. There is no better place to see
the lines up close and really hear everything they’re doing. To each
his own, as long as we positively support everyone who is out there
playing and working their butts off every day!
How big of a temperature difference was there between a first
camp in California and your first camp with Cavaliers? Is there
anything you can’t do in Rosemont for camps that you could do in
California because of the temperature?
Very interesting question – probably about 45 degrees colder in
Chicago than San Jose! This didn’t really have much of an affect on
what we did at the auditions. We had a nice indoor field house with
a track in Rosemont and though we couldn’t hear much clarity
inside the boomy room we could get them marching to check out
their feet. The Cavaliers don’t begin drill until April and May so this
gave us more time to stay indoors and tweak the music, which to
me is one of the most important aspects of the winter camps!
Thanks to Jim Ancona for taking the time during the busy summer tour to chat with LotPatrol!!
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