Kevin Estes Music

(Jim Broadhurst left, and Kevin Estes right)

The opportunity to play the snare drum part for Ravel’s Bolero is a dream for many percussionists. For me, it was one of the scariest two minutes of performing I have experienced. Central Ohio Symphony launched their 38th season with an excellent program that closed with Bolero, one of the most popular orchestral works written. Having prepared for this moment by spending hours in practice rooms consulting recordings from Cleveland, Berlin, and Montreal, I could barely hold my excitement to play this work with an orchestra. Although I played the second snare drum part, it was still an incredible experience and one that I will soon not forget. However, in my preparation and anticipation for one day playing this piece with a symphony, I had not considered that I might be playing the second snare drum part in the percussion section, while the principal snare drum, Jim, played at the front of the stage, sitting down where I could not see him. The distance between me and Jim created challenges with timing and volume which opened up a new appreciation for the difficulties this piece presents to performers.

The dress rehearsal was our first chance at making this situation work. As soon as I entered, close to the end of the piece, I realized immediately that my volume hindered my ability to hear Jim. In that moment, I was able to shift my body enough so that I could see his hands through the full bowing, music stands, and musicians playing second violin. I then began to focus moving my hands exactly with his channeling the best chamber music skills I could with almost tunnel vision focus. And to my great relief, the maestro had no complaints! It worked! I was thrilled that I had a plan to make this performance successful and overall, comfortable. But, as I stood up to enter during the performance, my view of Jim was completely blocked…. panic set in.

I had eight bars to decide what to do and my mind was racing. “How had I not checked this before we started!!! Can I move over?!? Don’t forget to turn the snares on! Okay, regroup, regroup…” In many years of performing and confronting challenging situations there is only one thing you can do, “Breathe, focus, adjust.” I didn’t have enough time to move the snare drum over, and, more importantly, I didn’t want to distract the audience with a goal line defensive shift.. So… I had to make a new plan, and fast. The dynamic marked fortissimo at my entrance would, at this point, remain a subtle suggestion.

I entered softly. So softly that I knew I was under Jim’s volume. I slowly increased my dynamic making sure I was always within his sound, and the overall texture. The key change signaled the other percussionists to stand up and get ready and I could finally see the end of the piece approaching. “Hang on, your almost there!” I kept saying to myself as I was diligently subdividing and managing volume. When we got to the last three beats of the piece, I made the decision to leave out the last triplets and let Jim finish the work so there would be no questions of “fuzziness” in rhythmic accuracy and execution. The audience roared and applauded.

I had done it. I stick with my plan (with a few last-minute adjustments) and delivered a flawless performance. And to any percussionists or musicians reading this, remember that If you panic, you lose control, and your performance will suffer. “Breathe, focus, adjust.”