Comparing Cymbal Selection in the Orchestral Literature

MATTHEW HOWARD currently resides back home in Los Angeles, as the new Principal Percussionist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the same orchestra he grew up watching. He comes from Miami, where he was a Fellow with the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. He has performed with such groups as the San Francisco Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, and Boston Ballet. He also has been a member in the National Repertory Orchestra, Verbier Festival Orchestra, and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.

He began playing drumset at the age of 15 and played in his high school jazz band. By 18, he found himself enthralled with the world of percussion and started studying with a local percussionist, John Magnussen. While studying with John, he also studied with recording legend Emil Richards on jazz vibraphone, Judy Chilnick on timpani, and Jerry Steinholtz on hand percussion. After a year of community college, he transferred to the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music Percussion Department, studying with Erik Forrester. The following year, Joseph Pereira and Jim Babor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic took over as faculty at USC. After graduating, he headed out to Boston to study with Will Hudgins of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the New England Conservatory. Immediately after graduating in 2015, he was offered a fellowship with the New World Symphony for up to three years.

Dvorak:
This is one of my favorite cymbals excerpts in the repertoire. It showcases a bunch of different techniques and having the right cymbals really help enhance this rousing finish. Everyone normally tends to prioritize the articulation for this excerpt, but it inevitably ends up hindering the sound of everything else. Thicker cymbals like the Symphonic Ks are very articulate, but you end up having to work extra hard to get the right soft crash sounds, and the right spread for the loud, sustained crashes. I do prefer a darker cymbal that is also thin enough to get smooth and shimmery soft crashes and loud crashes. The different techniques that need to be mastered in succession are soft, legato crashes, multi crashes, short crashes, and loud, shimmery crashes. We use an old prototype pair of K 18" or 20" cymbals for this. Because this ending can get very boisterous, I would move to a larger cymbal to ensure that I do not overplay the cymbals.

Tchaikovsky:
The main purpose of this excerpt is to audibly depict a sword fight. The cymbals need to be very fast reacting and thin enough to ensure that the high overtone of the cymbal speak fast, but not too thin where they can be overplayed easily. Because this excerpt is a test of short, syncopated crashes with timpani, the player needs to be nimble, but also have the ability for luscious and well-balanced loud crashes. The Classic Orchestral line works great for this. The bigger the cymbals, the better loud crashes, but they are also harder to get the high overtones to shoot out with the fast crashes resulting in a duller, dead sound. 18" or 19" Classic Orchestrals and the 18" Prototype Ks work perfect for this.

Rachmaninoff:
This excerpt shows how much control the player has over soft playing. There are 2 schools of thought for this one, use soft, thin cymbals to get a legato, bright crash, or use bigger cymbals for a super dark, rich, and legato sound, In my opinion, I feel like the player should not be stuck using these cymbals for this piece. This excerpt should be practiced with all different types, and sizes of cymbals to ensure flexibility and overall mastery. This advice could be transferred to all excerpts, but this one in particular. Everyone strives for the smooth soft crash, but the part requires staccato quarter notes with short woodwinds. Since this is a piano concerto, the tendency is to be late and inconsistent with sound quality. It would behoove the player to practice this excerpt mainly without looking at the hands and maximize the feel of impact and timing. This way, the player can watch the conductor/soloist without being tied to watching your hands. If the conductor ever asks for short crashes with the woodwinds, my solution for this is to keep the lower cymbal lightly pressed against the stomach at all times and only use the right hand. This keeps the volume down significantly, and also makes short crashes extremely easy. 16" or 18" K Constantinople Vintage Orchestral Med Lights and 16" or 18" Classic Orchestral Med Lights work great for this.