How to play the triangle properly
It's harder than you might think!
Hear from Interlochen Center for the Arts' Director of Percussion Keith Aleo on proper triangle technique.
Hi, my name is Keith Aleo and I am Director of Percussion at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. I'm here to talk to you about an instrument that we don't typically cover in private lessons, and oftentimes not in any part of your education as a percussionist. That instrument is the triangle.
I've actually been to concerts where the sound of the triangle actually kind of ruined beautiful moments. And you think, it's just a triangle. It actually is a very important part of the percussion family. To be a total percussionist, you need to play all the complementary instruments: triangle, tambourine, cymbals, and bass drum.
This is a wonderful triangle. This is a great instrument, but if you don't have the right gear to go along with it, it doesn't sound very good. For example, when I was in high school, we used a rope to hold our triangle. If you put the rope on there and you hold it, the first problem is it spins like this. And then we used a screwdriver as a triangle beater. So you have a rope where the triangle spins, and the rope is muffling the triangle. Let's listen to a beautiful triangle with a screwdriver and a rope. Doesn't sound very good.
Triangle equipment
The most important part of this instrument is actually the gear. I recommend a triangle clip, something designed to hold a triangle and to give it sustain. And what that has is, first of all, a clip where you can attach it to things, and secondly, it has two strings, and both of these are made out of thin fishing line. This is a Black Swamp clip, and what you can do is you can put the triangle on this clip and make a wonderful sound. The two strings: the first one is to hold the triangle, and the second one is a safety, so if the first one breaks, you don't drop the triangle in a concert.
So the clip is important, and then what you use to strike it: a triangle beater, something designed for playing the triangle. This is a tube type beater, you can get these at Black Swamp Percussion. Stoessel also makes them, which are very good. That's what this is. And if you notice, I hold the triangle on my ring finger and my thumb, like you''e holding a glass of water or making a C. You hold the triangle with your non-dominant hand and play the triangle with your dominant hand. I'm right-handed; the triangle's in my left hand, beater's in my right. Notice the elastic stroke, and listen to how good that sounds. A lot better than the screwdriver and the rope.
If cost is a concern of yours, you can use a clamp that you get at Home Depot or Lowe's. This clamp is about a dollar, and what you do is you drill holes and you put your own fishing line there. Also, if the beater is an issue for you—these are expensive—you can also get a drill rod. Doesn't sound as good as this, but it's not too bad. Very inexpensive. You just cut them off in the length and you'll get a good sound.
Playing the triangle
So we talked about the gear and what you should have. Now, let's talk about the playing technique. Elastic strokes. If you need to do a roll—when I was in high school, we would roll in like we're on a farm bringing in the farm hands. Not good. What we're going to do is we're going to roll between two edges. You can roll between the top edges or the bottom two edges. Here or here, alright. Sometimes you have fast notes, something that you can't play with one hand. How do you do that? Well, you can move between two bars. Like that, up and down, or you can take the triangle and mount it. I'm going to take our triangle with our clip, and I'm going to attach it to a music stand. So then, I can play it with two beaters. As you can see and hear, you get the sound of the music stand. That rattling and the buzzing of the music stand is not so good. So what you can do is you could take the triangle and mount it to a Black Swamp rack. Now this, you'll hear, gets a much better sound. No rattling and no stand sound.
Practicing the triangle
So we talked about gear, what you should get, what to buy. We also talked about how to play the instrument. Now, one of the most difficult things I find with students is they don't know what to practice. So I wrote a few etudes that you can actually practice the triangle. I recommend, if you're working on snare drum, take a break and take five minutes to just practice triangle. The first thing in the etudes I gave you is 10 notes. And you say, "Well, that's easy, I can play 10 notes at different dynamics." But you want the notes to sound exactly the same. So I'm just going to play four notes and see if I can make those four notes sound exactly the same.
I thought notes 1 and 2 were very good. They were the same. Note 3 not so good, and note 4 not so good. So it actually looks like just 10 whole notes, but it's actually very difficult. Then, I'm going to provide you with a couple etudes, one beginner etude, and a more advanced etude. So I'm going to play the beginner etude and I want you to listen and look at the music, and notice some of the things I do. Elastic stroke, how I muffle the triangle using the back of my hand and my fingers. Here we go.
I hope this helps you. First, what to buy, what to have, what to get, the gear; then, how to play the instrument, and then what to practice. Thank you very much.
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