Antonio Buonomo
Encyclopedia
Antonio Buonomo is an Italian composer, solo percussionist and music educator.
Professor of percussion at the conservatories of "S.Pietro a Majella in Naples
Music Conservatories of Naples
The Music Conservatory of Naples is a music institution in Naples, southern Italy. It is currently located in the complex of San Pietro a Majella.-San Pietro a Majella:...

" of Naples and "S.Cecilia" of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Antonio Buonomo’s professional experience includes performing as timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...

 soloist in various orchestras (such as the "San Carlo
Teatro di San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo is an opera house in Naples, Italy. It is the oldest continuously active such venue in Europe.Founded by the Bourbon Charles VII of Naples of the Spanish branch of the dynasty, the theatre was inaugurated on 4 November 1737 — the king's name day — with a performance...

" of Naples and "La Fenice
La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres...

" of Venice) and director of one of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

’s first all-percussion instrument groups.
His many compositions
Compositions
Compositions is the fourth album by the American R&B/soul singer Anita Baker. The album peaked at #5 on Billboard 200 and was certified platinum in 1990, making it Baker's third platinum selling album...

 and transcriptions
Transcription (music)
In music, transcription can mean notating a piece or a sound which was previously unnotated, as, for example, an improvised jazz solo. Further examples include ethnomusicological notation of oral traditions of folk music, such as Béla Bartók's and Ralph Vaughan Williams' collections of the national...

 for percussion instruments have been published by the main houses of this sector and include teaching materials as well as music for plays and television documentaries. They have been performed for the occasion of prestigious avant-garde musical events, television and radio programs as well as in public concerts.

Biography

In the preface to his biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...

 Antonio Buonomo says that “Being born into a family of musicians doesn't give you much choice”.

The fifth of ten children, he began studying music before he even knew how to read or write. He was already performing at the age of 12 (as a conservatory student), playing the trumpet and drums with his father in many nightclubs in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 in front of an audience of American soldiers from the Allied Forces. A career that was built on “coming up through the ranks” and playing just about any musical genre, from popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

 and marching bands to jazz and contemporary music.

“His career is immense and he has come a long way” as Il Centro
Il Centro
-History:It was founded in 1986, the first issue was published on July 3. It was fully acquired by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso in 1993. Today the newspaper has the largest market share in Abruzzo ....

 (Abruzzo's newspaper) wrote. He was director of one of the first contemporary rhythmic music bands and professor at the conservatories N.Piccinni
Niccolò Piccinni
Niccolò Piccinni was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure, even to music lovers today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the Neapolitan opera buffa—of his day...

 in Bari, S.Pietro a Majella in Naples
Music Conservatories of Naples
The Music Conservatory of Naples is a music institution in Naples, southern Italy. It is currently located in the complex of San Pietro a Majella.-San Pietro a Majella:...

, Luisa D'Annunzio in Pescara and Santa Cecilia in Rome. His didactic works were used as exams in national and international competitions and were adopted by high musical culture institutions in Italy and abroad.
He has held seminars and specialization courses on an international level, training an entire generation of musicians with his method that are now featured soloists in illustrious orchestras and conservatory
Music school
The term music school refers to an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music.Different terms refer to this concept such as school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department or conservatory.Music instruction can be provided...

 professors.

Antonio Buonomo has to be given the credit of being the first one in Italy ever to prove that percussion instruments had a life of their own, since they include all parameters of the triple music root: rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

, melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

 and harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

. So, these instruments were not (as many people used to think) a rhythm section to accompany other instruments or to simulate weather phenomena such as thunders or storms.

He continued his cultural operation until percussion courses were established inside Italian conservatories. He carried it out by writing ad-hoc compositions and participating in radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 and TV programs, as well as by playing pieces for percussion, that had never been performed in Italy, during the concerts he conducted.

Having achieved great success among young people through daily concerts that were even held in schools (from middle schools to universities), in 1975 he recorded the first classical, pop and contemporary all-percussion Italian music record in which he gathered the outcome of his studies and ideas.

He became much more popular as his artistic commitment grew, of course. Italy’s most influential newspaper, the Corriere della Sera
Corriere della Sera
The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...

, printed the following in November 1987: “He is a real authority on rhythm: as an internationally known percussionist and virtuoso, Antonio Buonomo is a versatile and passionate teacher who has published many works on his favorite subject, from pure percussion technique and rhythm perspectives.”

The most significant steps of his career, during which he has known and has collaborated with music legends like Stravinsky, Hindemith and others, can be summarized as follows:
  • he has participated in major European festivals, like the International Contemporary Music Festival at the Venice Biennial (1960/61) and the Edinburgh International Festival
    Edinburgh International Festival
    The Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks from around the middle of August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music , theatre, opera...

     (1963);
  • he participated in the Italy on Stage
    Stage (theatre)
    In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...

     in New York
    New York
    New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

     with Irene Papas
    Irene Papas
    Irene Papas is a Greek actress and occasional singer, who has starred in over seventy films in a career spanning more than fifty years.-Life:...

     (1986);
  • solo performances of contemporary music premiered in Italy;
  • tours outside of Europe.

In 1983, the Minister of Public Education invited him to be part of the commission that drafted the program for percussion and solfège
Solfege
In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...

 study for percussionists; he was called by the Opera Theatre in Rome
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements...

 during the Jubilee year to act as assistant conductor and music consultant, contributing to the creation of the Missa Solemnis pro Jubileo, by Franco Mannino
Franco Mannino
Franco Mannino was an Italian film composer, pianist, opera director, playwright and novelist, born in Palermo.He made his debut as pianist at the age of 16...

, which had its world premiere at the Colosseum
Colosseum
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...

.
His debut as author, together with his brother Aldo, dates back to 1965 with L’arte della percussione (The art of the percussion): the first European treatise, in three volumes (with guiding records) on classical, jazz and African-Latin-American percussion. It was a huge international success and probably the first time that an American publisher (Leeds Music Corporation in New York) showed an interest for Italian didactic books, requesting editor Suvini-Zerboni they be translated into English.

Books

1965 - Aldo and Antonio Buonomo - L’Arte della percussione (The art of the percussion) - three volumes Suvini-Zerboni editions SZ6361/a - 6361/b - 6361/c;

1967 - Aldo and Antonio Buonomo - Il batterista autodidatta (Self-taught drum playing) - Suvini-Zerboni editions SZ 6611;

1969 - Aldo and Antonio Buonomo - La tecnica del vibrafono (The technique of the vibraphone) - Suvini-Zerboni editions SZ 6882;

1973 - Aldo and Antonio Buonomo - Studi d’orchestra from Beethoven to Stockhausen - Suvini-Zerboni editions SZ6983;

1979 - Antonio Buonomo - Musica d’insieme per strumenti a percussione (Collective music) - Curci editions EC10314;

1982 - Antonio Buonomo - Il suono della percussione (The sound of percussion) - Curci editions EC 10503;

1989 - Antonio Buonomo Clara Perra - La musica tra ritmo e creatività (Music between rhythm and creativity) - 2 volumes Curci editions EC 10644 EC 10645;

1991 - Antonio Buonomo - Timpani* (study and application of fundamental techniques) - Curci editions EC 10894;

1996 - Antonio Buonomo - Sapere per suonare (Music theory) - Curci edition ISBN 88-485-0723-9;

1998 - Antonio Buonomo - The Marimba* (Grip, sound, technique) - Curci editions EC 11299;

2001 - Antonio Buonomo - Born for the drum set * (Instinctive study of the drum set for children and beginners) book with CD - BMG Ricordi Editions ISMN M-2151-0569-0;

2004 - Antonio Buonomo - Beyond the rudiments** When technique becomes music (book with CD) - Carisch Editions; ISBN 88-507-0592-1;

2009 - Antonio Buonomo - Nati per la musica (Born for the music) book with audio book - Curci editions. ISMN 979-0-2159-0114-8 - 9 790215 105690

(*) Italian-English text

(**) Italian, English, German and Spanish text

Autobiography

2010 - Antonio Buonomo - L’arte della fuga in tempo di guerra (The art of the fugue during war time) - Effepilibri editions. ISBN 978-88-6002-020-8

Main compositions – performed and published

  • Spazio zero to search by vocal chords and object-instruments ( RAI premiere 1975);
  • Vuoto for mimes, narrator and audience (premiere at the Exhibition on Avant-garde and Musical Research in Naples during the 1970s);
  • Akwadum work recommended by the jury of the National Contest of Children's Music composition, by the Province of Como, world premiere performance in the concert hall of the Conservatory G. Verdi in Como (Curci editionsEC 11352);
  • Afrikania premiere at the Opening “Agimus” season, Naples 1975 (Curci editions EC 11355);
  • Leggenda Valacca elaboration in contemporary style of the famous Angel's Serenade by Gaetano Braga, commissioned to Buonomo by the author’s hometown Administration, for the centenary of his death. (Curci editions ISBN 88-485-0793-X 9 798848 507935 );
  • Bach for percussion instruments RAI premiere 1976 (Curci editions EC 9867);
  • Kluster premiere in the Concert Season of the Pescara’s Music Academy (Curci editions EC11353);
  • La strada del ritorno premiere “Ravello Concerts” (Curci editions EC 11458);
  • Metallo dolce premiere Scarlatti Hall of the Conservatory of Naples;
  • Latino classico premiere Concert Hall S. Cecilia Conservatory - Rome (Curci editions EC 11354);
  • The Battle of Jericho premiere at the Theatre of Arts - Rome (Curci editions EC9908);
  • Skin-deep sounds premiere at the international drum contest of the Conservatory “N. Piccinni” in Bari (Curci editions EC 11548' ISBN 88-485-0665-8);
  • 4 antiche danze ungheresi (transcription) premiere at the Cilea Theatre Naples (Curci editions EC10314);
  • Deep River premiere at the Theatre of Arts - Rome (Piccola Vela editions);
  • Go Down Moses premiere at the Theatre of Arts - Rome (Piccola Vela editions);
  • Alla turca (transcription - Curci editions EC10314).

Pop music compositions

Occhi sognanti (slow song)

Tango del veliero

Bolero classico

Marialù

Videos and slideshows



(*) Italian-English text

(**) Italian, English, German and Spanish text

Poems

The two souls of the drum

La strada del ritorno

Vuoto

Primavera all’antica (set to music by D. Summaria)

Ritmo amico

Foglie di lacrime (set to music by D. Summaria);

Aphorisms

  • Rhythm is music's life.
  • A simple performer can become an artist by turning stage fright into an emotion to convey to the listener.
  • True music is not what we play or hear, but what gets to the listener without interference.
  • Everybody can create sounds by beating on any percussion, but only those produced by an expert touch can be called sounds.
  • A musician must find the real rhythm inside himself: it's the only thing that will lead him to a humanized performance where the metronome is of no use.
  • Forbidding spontaneous, by ear performance, is the same as to force a child to learn to read before he has learned to speak.

Main collaborations

  • Teatro San Carlo Naples (trumpet, timpanist and solo percussionist)
  • Teatro La Fenice Venice (timpanist)
  • Teatro dell’Opera Rome (assistant conductor)
  • Ensemble Tempo di percussione (conductor and solo percussionist)
  • Italian Symphony Orchestra (timpanist)
  • Orchestra Pomeriggi Musicali Milan (timpanist)
  • Corpo Musicale Aeronautica Rome (principal trumpet)
  • Orchestra Stabile Napoletana (principal trumpet)
  • Orchestra Scarlatti RAI
    RAI
    RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...

     Naples (percussionist)
  • Big band “Melodie di mezzo mondo” (principal trumpet)
  • Havana orquesta (principal trumpet)
  • RAI Orchestra Neapolitan Music (trumpet)

News Rudiments

A technique needs constant and appropriate study in order to preserve all its potential intact.

through time.

Rudiments  is a study based upon the classics (outdated) that consists in repeating rhythmic models by heart over and over again, gradually gaining speed.

There is no rhythmic control of the execution of this kind of monotonous and repetitive practice because the drummer is playing by memory and practically by ear. There is no music being read and practice is aimed solely at one type of execution: “in rhythm”, accentuating the downbeat (which is always the loudest) like when one begins speaking.

With new rudiments - developed as exercises to be read and practiced through constant and precise acceleration of movements (made possible by the change in figuration) -, drummers will study technique, reading and rhythm at the same time. This way, not only will they put an end to that monotonous “in rhythm” practice, they will also develop control of the speed of the beats.

Just by studying the sequences and the various fingering, practicing will prepare the drummer for:
  • fundamental rhythmic figures from two to fifteen beats (downbeats and off-beats)
  • single, double and triple stroke rolls with accentuated downbeats and off-beats;
  • single, double, and triple paradiddles;
  • paradiddles with final triple beats and acciaccaturas (flam, drag etc.).

Lastly, the advantage of practicing without missing a beat: going from division
Division
-Mathematics:*Division , the inverse of multiplication*Division , digital implementation of mathematical division*Division, in relational algebra-Science:*Cell division, the process in which biological cells multiply...

 accents to subdivision
Subdivision
Subdivision may refer to:* Country subdivision** Subdivision , a term for an urban or suburban area, especially if recently parceled up into smaller plots for new uses** Census geographic units of Canada , a term used in Canada...

 accents: an exercise that will come in very handy when playing in an orchestra where the conductor is holding the rhythm by beating the main accents and will also hold the secondary rhythm of the subdivision.

Sequences for drums and drum sets can be read or listened to in CD or practiced with the help of an animated video: a kind of Karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...

that allows drummers to check rhythm because the notes light up on the screen on the beat while playing.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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