Question 1

How do you play Carmina Burana with only one percussionist?

Accepted Answer

I split the job between acoustic instruments and the Roland SPD-SX Pro so I can cover multiple parts at once. The pad handles things that are impossible to reach or switch to in time—like xylophone rolls, chime/glock chords, and tambourine rolls—while I keep the big impact stuff (bass drum, cymbals, snare, gong) acoustic when it matters. The real challenge is choreography: knowing exactly where you are and what you’re grabbing next.

Question 2

Why are you using an SPD-SX Pro for orchestral percussion?

Accepted Answer

Because mallet changes and instrument travel time will destroy you in this piece if you try to do it all “purely acoustic” with one player. I’m not using random factory sounds either—I sampled my own percussion collection, so what you hear is still my instruments. It lets me keep the original colors instead of dumbing everything down to just snare drum.

Question 3

Did you sample your own glockenspiel, chimes, and tambourine for this setup?

Accepted Answer

Yes—everything on the pad is sampled from my own instruments: tambourine thumb rolls, glock notes, chime notes, xylophone notes, bass drum, gong, the whole thing. That way the sound matches what I’m actually playing on stage. It also makes the pad feel like an extension of the setup, not a separate fake instrument.

Question 4

What’s the hardest movement to cover as a one-man percussion section in Carmina Burana?

Accepted Answer

Number 14 is the mess, even in the full orchestral version—there are a lot of parts arriving, and it can fall apart depending on how it’s conducted. Doing it with one player means you need a very specific pad map and a clean plan for how you’re combining tambourine, snare, bass drum, gong, and glock gestures. If you play it all together smartly, it can actually be easier than trying to chase every instrument separately.

Question 5

How do you handle gong notes so they don’t ring forever?

Accepted Answer

A simple trick is putting a towel on the gong stand so it barely touches the gong. That dries it up and helps you get consistent soft notes, especially on a wind gong where the ring can be huge. It’s all about controlling decay so the articulation stays clear.

Question 6

How do you program tambourine rolls so you can stop them quickly?

Accepted Answer

I programmed a shake roll sample so one hit starts it and another hit stops it. Then I also programmed a separate hit note so I can punch accents with a fist or stick. That’s incredibly useful when I have to jump right back to chimes/glock chords with basically no time.

Question 7

What’s your approach to xylophone parts when you can’t physically get to a xylophone?

Accepted Answer

I program the roll (and sometimes specific notes) on the pad so I can trigger it cleanly without running to an actual xylophone and changing mallets. In spots like number 12, it’s not just convenience—it’s the only way to keep the part accurate while still covering gong and bass drum. Orff’s writing can be really awkward with accidentals and seconds, so the pad also saves you from contorting yourself into bad technique.

A One-Man Percussion Section - Performing Carmina Burana as the Lone Percussionist.

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