Vambola Krigul says percussionists must master hundreds of instruments

Percussionist Vambola Krigul told ERR’s cultural programme “OP” that professional percussionists must learn to play hundreds of instruments.

“People generally picture percussionists sitting in the back row of an orchestra, high up on a shelf, looking sad with a triangle in their laps and waiting for their moment,” Krigul said. “But the instruments that must be skilfully handled in everyday work are counted in the hundreds.”

Contemporary music uses a wide range of playing techniques, and musicians do not always use conventional drumsticks. Percussion instruments can be played with sticks, bows, brushes, sponges or anything else that can produce a sound from the instrument, Krigul said.

He described percussion playing as both simple and highly complex. Many people encounter triangles, tambourines and drums as children, but professional musicians may not know which instruments they will have to use when they arrive at work in the morning.

Krigul recalled performing Mason Bates’ work with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. The score called for a metal rattle, but the musicians could not find such an instrument anywhere.

“We started asking encyclopedias, books and friends around the world, but nobody had seen or heard of one. Still, conductors and composers are very optimistic and enthusiastic, thinking that surely it must exist,” he said.

Krigul then went to his workshop and made one himself from an old milling cutter and a relatively new putty knife, attaching them to a crank. He brought the instrument to rehearsal the next day.

The conductor praised the sound but asked whether Krigul had a larger version. “The instrument did not even exist, and he was asking me for a bigger one,” Krigul said.

Krigul made a larger rattle, but it was so powerful that he now wears protective glasses when playing it.

“OP” airs on ETV on Thursdays at 8 p.m.