Jacques Delécluse

How to make music

with a drum
As a Jacques Delécluse student at the Paris
Conservatory (1979–81), then as his colleague at the
Orchestre de Paris (1987–99), and also as a
friend, I have shared with him many
great moments of percussion, of
music, and of life during
almost 30 years. I am very
happy and proud of this,
but I also know he is a
great musician, a
clever teacher, and a
wonderful
man.

By Frederic Macarez
percussive notes  NOVEMBER 2009
 am happy to report that play the orchestra score
Jacques Delécluse is reduced for the piano
alive and well, and still with me when I was
involved in music and preparing to play con-
percussion. Born in certos with orchestras
September of 1933, he as a soloist. He was the
is now retired from the best pianist and coach I
Orchestre de Paris and from could ever find!
the Conservatoire de Paris, but he is still Talent and a sense of
composing music, giving master classes, and music are the very spe-
participating on juries of many exams, audi- cial qualities obvious in
tions, and competitions. He divides his time Delécluse’s writing and
between Paris, his country house near Paris, teaching. The main rea-
and the south of France near the Mediterra- son why Jacques Deléc-
nean in summer. luse’s etudes have been
Jacques Delécluse is the son of Ulysse so popular all around
Delécluse, who was a very famous clarinet the world for more than
player and teacher in France. Jacques first 40 years is because they
started to study piano and was a very gifted have a musical sense:
pianist, a very good student, and an excellent they are written not
musician. He received the First Prize at the by only a percussionist
Conservatoire de Paris in 1950 (best of the but by a composer and
competition), with better results than many a complete musician.
students who became great and famous solo- As Eric Sammut says,
ists, such as Philippe Entremont. “Delécluse’s etudes are
A couple of years before, Jacques started to real concert etudes. One
study percussion with Felix Passerone, princi- can often see people in
pal timpanist of the Paris Opera and teacher tuxedos playing some of
at the Conservatoire of Paris—the master them on stage!”
of an entire generation of famous French When Jacques start-
percussionists. In 1950, just one week before ed to write his etudes in
he got the First Prize for piano, Jacques also 1964, there was almost
received the Second Prize for percussion. nothing in the reper-
The other students at this time were Jacques toire for snare drum in
Rémy (former principal timpanist of the Or- France: no methods, no
chestre de Paris), Jean Batigne (who created books, no etudes, no
the Percussions de Strasbourg), and Jean- solo pieces. Percussionists had to study from completely musical—no mindless technical
Claude Tavernier (retired from Orchestre orchestral excerpts, military drum books, and patterns, no measures without artistic sense,
National de France and a famous author). a couple of low-level standard pieces. Deléc- but rather expressive dynamics, intelligent
At the Conservatoire of Paris, Jacques also luse did not merely revolutionize the peda- phrases, useful foundations from which to
studied harmony, counterpoint, and com- gogical writing for percussion, he invented it! progress on the instrument, and a wonderful
position, and he received the First Prize for From nothing, he built a real school for per- source for exams, auditions, and performance
percussion in 1951. It was then that he chose cussion and created a pedagogical repertoire
to become a percussionist and timpanist. He for snare drum, xylophone, timpani,
subsequently took part in the creation of the and vibraphone. There is
Domaine Musical with Pierre Boulez, and was a good reason
appointed to the Paris Opera and the Société that most of
des Concerts du Conservatoire, which ulti- these books
mately became Orchestre de Paris in 1967. are still in
In this same year Delécluse left the Paris use today all
Opera to become a full member of the Or- around the
chestre de Paris—as a pianist! However, he world.
started to play percussion again very soon In 1964,
and, returning to his first professional pas- Jacques released
sion, he became timpanist of the orchestra in his famous 12
1993—but he still played piano, too! He was Etudes for Snare
probably the only musician able to perform Drum, published
perfectly both the timpani part to “The Rite of by Alphonse Leduc.
Spring” and the piano part to “Petrouchka”! Like many of his
When he was teaching at the Conservatoire works, these etudes
of Paris, he was playing all the piano accom- are inspired by the
paniments (and playing them much better orchestral repertoire.
than most of the pianists you have to play But contrary to the ma-
with in auditions!). Years after I left the Paris jority of the other books,
Conservatory, I sometimes asked Jacques to Delécluse’s studies are

percussive notes  NOVEMBER 2009

percussive notes 10 NOVEMBER 2009
 why these books are so differ- In only two short pages, it contains every-
ent and so appreciated all over thing one needs to know about snare drum
the world. playing! This is why this piece is very popular
Of course, like many percus- and requested in many exams and auditions.
sionists in France and around I recommend to my students that they play it
the world, my own playing every day.
and teaching of percussion is Jacques Delécluse brought a new dimen-
inspired by Jacques’ sense of sion to percussion playing: to consider
musicality. So when I wrote my dynamics, accents, phrases, and musical
own snare drum etudes (Snare expression. In short, he makes us think about
System), I was inspired by all I “how to make music with a drum.” This idea
got from him during all these took root more than 40 years ago and is still
years, and I submitted my applicable today. Jacques truly created a
works to him before publica- “school of percussion” and has deeply influ-
tion. He gave me very precious enced generations of percussion players and
advice and suggestions. The teachers not only in France, but all over the
first etude of these books is an world.
homage to Delécluse’s etudes, So thanks, Monsieur Delécluse!
and the books are dedicated
to him. It’s the same in my Frederic Macarez is principal timpanist of
teaching. I always keep in mind Orchestre de Paris, Director of Percussion
how Jacques taught me and Studies at Conservatoire National de Région
so many students in France: de Paris, and president of the France PAS
“Don’t play percussion but play chapter. PN
music—MUSIC—with phrases,
articulations, dynamics, etc.
A few words about “Test
Claire”: this piece is the finest
example of Jacques Delécluse’s
repertoire. These are the reasons for the suc- talent. Based on many orches-
cess of his works. tral excerpts, connected together with real
As Jacques writes himself, “These etudes musical phrasing, it’s a very substantial work.
are difficult only as far as the metrono-
mic markings, the dynamics, accents, and
‘connecting tissue’ are strictly observed.”
This is why the famous “Etude #9” (based on
Rimsky Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnol”) has
a real interest if one plays it at the indicated
tempo (mm = 66–69). Many players can play
it slower, but the real pedagogical and musi-
cal interest is at the exact tempo. Each etude
has its own musical character and has to be
played not only with a perfect technique but
also with a real musical expression. This is
why Delecluse’s etudes are requested in many
exams and auditions: they make it possibile
to evaluate a player in a very short time.
Because of the evolution of technique and
the rising level of modern players, and also to
increase the repertoire, Delécluse published
additional snare drum etudes: Keisleiriana 1
in 1987 and Keisleiriana 2 in 1990, both pub-
lished by Alphonse Leduc. In these etudes,
the reference to orchestral repertoire is even
more evident. For example, No. 2 of Keisk-
leiriana 1 is inspired by Ravel’s “Daphnis and
Chloé” and No.1 of Keiskleiriana 2 is inspired
by Shostakovitch’s “11th Symphony.” In these
etudes, Delécluse keeps the same main in-
tent: “musical difficulties,” or how to progress
in a musical way.
It’s the same with Jacques’s other books:
timpani etudes, xylophone etudes, and vari-
ous other pieces. The musicality is always the
central point of the compositions, and this is

percussive notes 11 NOVEMBER 2009