A member of the prestigious Percussive Arts Society, and Modern Drummer Magazine Halls of Fame, Anthony J. Cirone is equally renowned for his work as a performer, educator, composer, and editor. He received his Bachelor of Science, and Master of Science degrees from The Juilliard School where he studied with the legendary Saul Goodman. Upon graduation, he was offered the position of Percussionist with the San Francisco Symphony by Maestro Josef
Krips. Mr. Cirone’s 36-year tenure with the San Francisco Symphony had him perform under the musical directorship of: Seiji Ozawa, Edo DeWaart, Herbert Blomstedt, and Michael Tilson Thomas; as well as under the baton’s of acclaimed guest conductors: Leonard Bernstein, Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Eugene Ormandy, Kurt Mazur, Rafael Kubelik, and James Levine.
As an educator, Mr. Cirone was a Professor of Music at San José State University where he Chaired the Percussion Department, conducted the Percussion Ensemble, and taught Fundamental Literature and Techniques, Percussion Pedagogy, and Notation/Computer Music Typography. He was also on the faculties of San Francisco State University, Stanford University, and The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where he Chaired the Percussion Department.
A prolific composer, Mr. Cirone received a Special Distinction Award from the ASCAP Rudolf Nissim Composition Contest for his orchestral work entitled: Pentadic Striations. His more than 100 published titles include his seminal book, Portraits in Rhythm, a worldwide standard for training percussionists; as well as his many other textbooks, symphonies for percussion, sonatas, a string quartet, and his works for orchestra and concert band.
Formerly the Percussion Consultant/Editor for Warner Bros. Publishing Co. (now Alfred Music Publishing), he is presently the Executive Editor of Percussion Publications for Meredith Music Publications. Moreover, he has designed two signature snare drum sticks for the Malletch Corporation, and is a clinician for the Yamaha Corporation, the Avedis Zildjian Cymbal Company, and the Remo Drum Company.
When did you begin studying music?
I began taking Snare Drum Lessons at seven years old. I had a private lesson every week throughout grade school. In high school, I also began to take lessons on the vibraphone. Soon after, I was playing gigs with a piano, drum, and bass trio. I would bring both my drums and vibraphone on the job, and switch depending on the tune. In my junior year of high school, my band director suggested I take lessons from William Laverack, who just returned from a two year stint with the Marine Band. What I did not know is that he was a Juilliard School of Music graduate, and for the next two years he prepared me to audition for The Juilliard School. I then studied with Saul Goodman for six years and the rest is history.
Did you always study percussion?
Yes, I never studied any other instrument.
What made you choose percussion?
When I was seven, my mother took me to a music store and asked me what instrument I wanted to play. She said I ran over to the big drum set and that was it. The thing about that is no one in my immediate family of 11 aunts and uncles played a musical instrument.
Who were your primary teachers?
A local postman was my first teacher. Then I used to go to my neighbor’s house and practice on my drum pad with the father of that family who also played drums. At some point, I began to take drum lessons at the Giglio Music Studio in Rutherford, NJ. His name was Jimmy Gerome. As I got older, I would ride the bus to Newark, NJ and take lessons from a local circus drummer. Unfortunately, I do not remember his name. I also took my first vibraphone lessons from a local music teacher, Alan Heim.
When did you decide to pursue a career in music?
When I entered high school, I filled out a form as a freshman that asked about a career I was interested in – and I wrote an electrical engineer. But after playing in the school marching band for two years, as well as performing with the trio, I began to think of a career in music in my junior year of high school – probably as a music teacher. I also began to give elementary drum lessons at the Giglio Music Studio where it all started for me. It wasn’t until I entered Juilliard that a career as a performer began to take shape.
Did you have a specific goal: teach, perform, etc.?
I was always interested in teaching. No matter how much I became involved as a free-lance musician, I always continued to teach. After a few years at The Juilliard School, I began to study all the great European Composers and I learned how to compose music in such a classical environment. Early on, I realized that the wealth of musical directives that composers placed in their music such as: cresc, dim, accel, rit, fermatas, staccato, tenuto, G.P.; plus all the dynamics from ppp to fff; and tempo indications like, allegro vivace, largo molto, adagio, lento, and presto vivo; and character words like, morendo, espressivo, dolce, maestoso, assai, and animato, could not be found in the percussion books I was using to teach snare drum. At that time we were lucky to see a forte or piano, and maybe an Allegro. This inspired me to compose Portraits in Rhythm – 50 Etudes for Snare Drum which included much of the above. Most recently, I added all my personal interpretations and phrasing to the notation of the original book; as conductors do when rehearsing musical scores for an orchestra. Besides following the directions of the composer, conductors constantly adjust dynamics and interpret the musical directives, as well as add their own phrasing to the music. I always encourage my students to do the same. I call this new book The Advanced Edition of Portraits in Rhythm. Here is the link for those who may be interested:
https://www.totalsheetmusic.com/digital-sheet-music/portraits-in-rhythm-advanced-edition-664187/
Do you focus on a specific area of percussion, if so, did you always?
Professionally, when I joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1965, I played all the mallet parts. Years later when one of my students joined the orchestra, Jack Van Geem, who is a marimba virtuoso, took over the mallet parts and I played snare drum for many years. After our cymbal player retired, I finished my career playing cymbals. Because of Portraits in Rhythm, I concentrated on snare drum whenever I gave clinics and master classes.
Who impacted your musical growth the most?
Without question Saul Goodman. Everything I first learned about phrasing, rhythm, interpretation of musical directives, and articulations was during my six years of studying with him at Juilliard. During my 36 years with the San Francisco Symphony, every rehearsal was a master class for me. Performing under so many different conductors, each one had something personal to add to the interpretation of music. So I felt my education never really ended.
What teaching positions have you held?
I was a Professor of Music at San Jose State University from 1965 – 2001; a Lecturer at Stanford University from 1983 – 1992; and Chairman of the Percussion Department at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana from 2001 – 2007.
What percussionists have inspired you the most and why?
Buster Bailey taught me how to properly play a loud snare drum roll. Roland Kohloff (Timpanist of the San Francisco Symphony when I joined the orchestra) played so musically and with such expression, it was inspiring. And Evelyn Glennie because she can find musical expression in avante garde percussion music.
Is there a specific genre you enjoy performing the most?
My entire career has been as a classical percussionist.
What composers do you identify with and why?
Gustav Mahler for his amazing ability to compose 90 minute symphonies and never being bored when listening to the constantly repeating melodies. Igor Stravinsky for taking classical music to another level with The Rite of Spring. Johann Sebastian Bach for his far reaching musical ideas during the baroque period of music.
Do you get nervous before you play – if so, how do you deal with it?
I have never had a problem with nervousness. I think the secret is to be fully prepared before performing. This includes warming up every day; listening to recordings when possible; and for orchestral music, making sure there are plenty of musical cues in your sheet music to ensure that you do not lose your place. Musicians who may have serious problems with being nervous or shaking, probably are in the wrong business. Personally, I do not believe in taking drugs to control these symptoms.
Do you ever make a mistake while performing? If so, how do you go about resolving it?
Of course I have made mistakes. It is only a problem if you repeat the mistakes. Missing notes requires more practice. Getting lost requires more cues. Accidents, such as dropping your sticks or knocking the tambourine off the table, etc. requires being more careful.
Has your practice regimen changed from when you were a student? And how do you keep your technique fresh on all primary percussion instruments?
I’ve developed my practice regimen slowly over my career. I would show up an hour before rehearsals and concerts, and work out with a practice pad for at least 20 minutes. I published my warm-up routine for snare drum in my Master Techniques Builders for Snare Drum. This book includes the practice routine of 19 other professional percussionists, plus one farce at the end. Warming up on keyboard percussion was done at home. Check out my Master Technique Builders for Vibraphone and Marimba for exercises of many mallet specialists.
How do you define a good musician and a good teacher? And has your definition of both changed from when you were a student to the present?
Most of what one may consider being a “good” musician or teacher would develop over a long career. The important considerations are in the areas of technique, interpretation, musicality, and body language. Interpreting what the composer puts on the page is crucial. For instance the level of dynamics, phrasing, and musical directives such as: rit., accel., cresc., dim., sub. p, sub. f; translating musical terms such as: morendo, maestoso, espressivo, ma con spirito, animato in Italian, German, and French – unfortunately composers never phrase percussion music. The exception would be for solo marimba. We should not play rhythms like a machine gun. All music should be phrased for musicality. If the composer does not add the phrasing, do him or her a big favor by adding your own. Auditions are not won by playing the correct rhythm, but by playing musically; this is achieved by adding the directives from above in a subtle manner.
Do you think that performing and teaching are intrinsically intertwined? If so, how and why?
Not all musicians are good teachers, and not all teachers are good musicians. To have both would mean teachers have performed under excellent conductors, and musicians have developed a pedagogy for training students. The more musicians perform in professional situations the more we learn to interpret music. Every rehearsal of my 36 years in the San Francisco Symphony was a master class for me. It goes beyond what is on the printed page. No conductor of merit interprets just what is in the score. They must add their own levels of musicality (tempi, dynamics, phrasing, etc.) to the music within the confines of the composer’s intentions.
What inspires you to compose, and do you usually have a specific grade level in mind when you do?
When I was a student at The Juilliard School, I had many classes in composition and orchestration – both inspired me to compose. And when I began teaching at San Jose State University in 1965, I found that there were not many books in the growing field of percussion pedagogy for either technique and/or musical etudes. There were also very few compositions for the percussion ensemble. In turn, I wrote for all levels of students from beginning to graduate studies.
How do you feel when someone performs your work differently than you intended?
I’m a great believer in interpretation. From tempo, dynamics, musical directives, phrasing and articulations, these are all meant to be interpretive. Conductors also are interpreting scores when they conduct. No two performances are ever similar. Especially with phrasing, composers rarely use phrase markings for percussion instruments that they use for every other orchestral instrument. Recently I published my Portraits in Rhythm Advanced Edition for this very purpose. I included all the phrase markings and musical directives to show how I interpret the rhythms.
What would you like others to know about your compositions?
After perfecting the rhythms, then begin to follow all the Italian words which give clues to my intentions. This includes the tempo indications at the beginning of the piece. First comes the tempo: allegro, lento, moderato, etc. Then comes the next words such as: espressivo, maestoso, pesante, dolce, grandioso, etc. They give clues to the composer’s intentions.
Has teaching made you a better musician, if so, how and why?
This works both ways. By constantly improving your musical skills as a musician, provides you with greater skills to pass on to your students. Also, by examining a student’s technical abilities, and figuring out ways to improve them, helps monitor your own skills. Constantly discussing all the musical directives composers use with students helps them pay more attention when performing. So yes, this works both ways. Teaching constantly reminds us of our own responsibilities when performing, and constantly performing places more demands on our own attention to those of a conductor so we can share them with our students.
Knowing what you know today, would you change anything about how you prepared for your career? If so, what and why?
I wish I would have concentrated on memorizing solo works. I read everything and rarely played by memory. This made me a great sight-reader, and I depended on that skill – but never worked on memorizing.
What words of wisdom would you share with a student who aspires to make a career as a performer and as an educator?
It’s very difficult to obtain a professional career in performance. There are not enough major orchestras to meet the supply of qualified students. There are more opportunities for free-lance employment, but they do not pay for medical or future pensions. So, I always suggest students have a second college major in another interest such as: computer technology, science, math, etc. And it is always important to take classes in education, since that is a good avenue for musicians to obtain secure employment with tenure and benefits.
If you would like to learn more about Mr. Cirone, please visit his website at: www.anthonyjcirone.com
