Lise Duarte Nuñez 
Four-mallet technique on marimba is not only about reaching four notes. It also lets you decide which notes should lead and which should support them. If every attack attracts the same attention, a melody can become difficult to follow even when all the pitches are correct. This guide proposes a short exercise for players already … Read more
A double stroke roll alternates two strokes from one hand with two from the other: RRLL RRLL. To practise it usefully, listen beyond speed. Are the notes evenly spaced? Does the second stroke disappear or become an unintended accent? Can you hear a change when the other hand takes over? This guide proposes a short … Read more
Timpani tuning is not complete when the pedal or gauge reaches a familiar position. You still need to check the pitch that actually sounds. A useful practice routine connects a clear reference, an imagined note, a controlled adjustment and a fresh listening check before the entrance. The aim is not to make tuning a separate … Read more
In the first-movement timpani excerpt from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the end of a sound can matter as much as the attack. A strong roll, a resonant short note and a controlled release do different jobs. Treating them all with the same damping habit can hide those differences. Lise Duarte Nuñez’s Instagram practice notes identify the … Read more
The glockenspiel passages in Mozart’s The Magic Flute are part of a stage conversation. Papageno’s bells can interrupt, charm and change what happens around him. Preparing them means hearing the vocal and dramatic context, not only learning a line of bright notes. Lise Duarte Nuñez’s Instagram excerpt invites that question of sound and character. The … Read more
In a West Side Story vibraphone passage, clarity is not only a question of how a note begins. It also depends on what is still ringing when the next note arrives. A mallet change may alter the attack, while the pedal changes the space around it. The Instagram publication featuring Lise Duarte Nuñez and MG … Read more
Preparing the Sacrificial Dance timpani excerpt means more than memorising a sequence of time signatures. You need to know how long each group lasts, where your attacks belong, and how to continue through rests without treating every bar as a new start. Lise Duarte Nuñez’s Instagram excerpt brings that rhythmic challenge into focus. The practice … Read more
Sebastian Schmid’s Tambur-ille asks you to make a musical line out of different kinds of tambourine sound. Short figures, sustained rolls and silence need to belong to the same pulse, even when the physical action changes. Lise Duarte Nuñez’s Instagram excerpt provides a starting point for that work. The question here is not which roll … Read more
In Franz von Suppé’s Pique Dame overture, a snare drum passage can look repetitive while asking for several different decisions. The rhythm must remain clear, the dynamics must develop, and the sound after a roll still needs a place in the phrase. Lise Duarte Nuñez’s Instagram excerpt prompted a useful reader question: can playing repeated … Read more
A percussion mock audition gives you a setting in which to play a complete round and examine what happens across it: preparation, excerpts, instrument changes, pauses and recovery after an unexpected moment. That makes it a different task from recording a short passage for diagnosis. Both can be useful, but they ask different questions. A … Read more