by Thomas Altmann » Mon Jan 09, 2012 6:49 pm
When I had batá lessons with Pancho Quinto, he came into my practice room in Hamburg, and it was winter in Germany. That was about the end of a one-week workshop tour in Europe, and his hands must have suffered quite a bit, so he kept his gloves on. He picked up my iyá and played a couple of strokes, and I swear the drum sounded at least as well as when I played it with my bare hands. And he had never played that particular drum before.
To see the sound in any instrument, or even any object, and to bring it out under any given circumstances, is a largely overlooked virtue of a true percussionist.
Thomas