Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Cover and corners has some wear. Ex library copy with wear. Usable copy. Softcover. English. See images for condition.

About the book >.>.> Everyone knows that James Blades is one of our great percussionists. He plays all the various instruments with accuracy and an infectious sense of rhythm and his timpani playing is noted for its impeccable intonation and beautiful tone. I have been a lucky composer because under my direction he has played in ten of my operas and also in those two difficult percussive nuts to crack the Nocturne and Cello Symphony. Not so many know that Blades is a brilliant and resourceful craftsman experi-menting with skill and ingenuity in the making and assembling of many of the instruments he plays and in the creation of new ones. Some of the instruments he has made for me often from the slenderest hints – are described in Chaptensa6. All his colleagues and I am proud to consider myself as one know what a generous friend Jimmy Blades is; how he will help an inexperienced player; how he will hurry to this or that school to advise the young in their percussion problems or turn up at a recording session to give them confidence; and he will lend out his instruments often at serious inconvenience to himself. We who have toured abroad with him have seen excited groups gathering around him after rehearsals and per-formances commenting or questioning. Goodness knows what language he uses but no matter since he has a Slav-like ease of communication with everyone. Now on the publication of this great book a large public will realise what a scholar Professor James Blades is. Of course many will have heard his enchanting lectures or read his informative guides to Percussion Instruments but now the vast range of his learning must come as a surprise. (MP)