Risto Skrikberg Presents Rudimental Clinic at University of Toronto (or Zen and the art of rudimental drumming) by Zoltan Harsanyi

 

Shown on the left is Jari Kantonen (translater), and on the right is Risto Skrikberg. ( 27 October 2007)

 

The Percussion Department and the Faculty of Music of the University of Toronto presented a Clinic by one of Finland’s preeminent teachers, Risto Skrikberg. He is a teacher, author and lecturer on rudimental drumming and orchestral percussion and teaches at the Tampere Conservatory and the Pohjois-Pirkanman Music Institute.

 

Skrikberg’s students have attended the Manhattan School of Music, The Berklee College of Music and the University of Toronto. They perform with symphony orchestras and jazz ensembles as well as teach and lecture at music colleges and conservatories throughout Finland.

 

Skrikberg has authored three books on snare drumming and the rudiments, illustrated by his artist wife. During a visit to North America, Risto was introduced to the New England style of rudimental drumming by the legendary Connecticut drummer, Jay Tuomey and incorporated its discipline into his teaching.

 

During the presentation Risto spoke in Finnish and was ably translated into English by Jari Kantonen shown above. He started the clinic by playing a brief piece on the rather large snare drum pictured above, which I believe is a military style field drum. During the presentation he allowed us to listen to an excerpt from a recording by Frank Arsenault the celebrated rudimental drummer. A method book written by Ken Mazur made a huge impact on his development and this led him to discover Ken’s teacher Jay Tuomey. In discussing practice methodology, Risto advocated taking 1.5 minute intervals to work on a given rudiment or group of 4 measures. This was to be divided into 45 secs of going from slow to fast, and another 45 secs going from fast to slow and then repeating the pattern 3 to 6 times. Much of the talk focused on proper grip and motion of the hands in playing the drum (which he felt would be beneficial to players of every percussion instrument). He emphasized the importance of not over-practicing to the point where mistakes start to occur more frequently, as many students in his experience do. Despite the language barrier his presentation went very smoothly. It was laced with a good deal of humour and was very well received by the audience.

 

The impetus for allowing Risto to make this presentation came from Robin Engelman, without whom it probably wouldn’t have happened.

 

 

Risto is shown here demonstrating a relaxation exercise with the help of audience member Allison Bent.