Alan Abel (musician)
Alan Abel | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Alan Abel performing in 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1928 (age 95–96) Hobart, Indiana |
| Genres | classical music |
| Occupation | percussionist |
| Instrument(s) | triangle, snare drum, bass drum |
| Years active | 1951-present |
Alan Abel (born 1928 in Hobart, Indiana) is an American percussionist and inventor of musical instruments.
Career
Abel was born in Hobart, Indiana, in 1928.[1][2] At the age of seven, he started percussion lessons. He studied with Clarence Carlson at the Roy Knapp School and then with Haskell Harr and William Street at the Eastman School of Music from 1947 to 1951, where he earned a performance degree and played part-time with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.[3]
After playing with the United States Air Force Band from 1951 to 1953,[1][3] he performed with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic from 1953 to 1959.[1][2] In 1959 he became a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra with which he performed until the end of his career in 1997.[2] He was named Associate Principal Percussionist of that orchestra in 1972.[2]
In 1998 he was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.[2][3] In 2012, an Honorary Doctorate of Music was bestowed upon him by New England Conservatory of Music, in Boston Massachusetts. Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).[4]
Musical instruments
Abel's predecessor at the Philadelphia Orchestra, Jim Valerio, had a custom-made triangle which was coveted by his peers.[2] After lending it to Abel for the first two years, Abel devised a way to recreate the sound and created the "Alan Abel Triangle", which uses a piece of chromed brass.[5] Used by many professional percussionists around the world because of its overtone-rich sound,[6] the Triangle has been manufactured by and with the continuous oversight of Alan Abel since 1963.[7][8]
Abel also invented the "suspended" bass drum stand in the early 1960s, which he manufactured himself until 2013, when he turned over manufacturing to Andy Reamer, who had previously already supplied the drums.[6] The stand allows the bass drum to be suspended on a ring that swivels.[2] The suspended bass drum stand is used by most American symphonic orchestras and the concept has been copied and imitated by multiple drum hardware manufacturers worldwide.[2][7]
References
- ^ a b c Huffman, Larry. "Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians List". www.stokowski.org. The Stokowski Legacy. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ a b c d e f g h Cite error: The named reference
paswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Barnhart, Stephen L. (2000). Percussionists: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Press. p. 5. ISBN 9780313296277.
- ^ Lewis, Susan (17 June 2014). "A Master Percussionist Nurturing the Next Generation". WRTI. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ Facchin, Guido (2000). Le percussioni (in Italian). EDT srl. p. 133. ISBN 9788870632514.
- ^ a b Kanny, Mark. "Percussion trifecta: PSO's Reamer plays, teaches, makes drums". TribLIVE.com. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
- ^ a b Lewis, Susan (4 February 2013). "Where Music Lives: At Percussionist Alan Abel's House". WRTI. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ Colaneri, Chris (2015). Modern Etudes and Studies for the Total Percussionist. Oxford University Press. p. 126. ISBN 9780199389148.