Carl E. Gardner was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
percussionist, drum maker, and method book author.
Career
Carlton Edward Gardner was born in 1885 in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
.
He published a book called ''Music Composition'' sometime before his book on music theory, ''Essentials of Music Theory'', in 1912. Gardner was the timpanist for the
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...
from 1915-1920. During this time he also published a
rudimental drumming
In ''rudimental drumming'', a form of percussion music, a drum rudiment is one of a number of relatively small patterns which form the foundation for more extended and complex drumming patterns. The term "drum rudiment" is most closely associ ...
manual called ''The Military Drummer'' (1918), which was "indorsed
icby the U.S. Army and Navy authorities," ''Music Composition: A New Method of Harmony'' (1918), and ''The Gardner Modern Method for the Instruments of Percussion'' (1919).
[Beck, John H. Encyclopedia of Percussion. Routledge, 2013.] In 1919, Gardner partnered with BSO trombonist Fortunato Sordillo to form the Sordillo-Gardner Music Company, which manufactured Gardner-designed Free Tension Drums.
After leaving the Symphony in 1920, Gardner helped form the Boston Society of Musical Instrument Manufacturers in 1922. In 1925, he contributed to ''Carl Fischer's Drum Fife and Bugle Corps Leaflets'' along with Francis Findlay and W.A. Maynard. 3 of the 8 lessons in the leaflets were on the snare drum and each leaflet cost 10 cents. Gardner wrote several volumes of ''Progressive Studies for the Snare Drum'', the first of which was published in 1928.
Gardner was the program director for the Music Supervisor's National Band Conference Band Festival on Boston Common at least 4 times, the 4th being in 1928.
He went on to serve as the Supervisor of Bands and Orchestras for Boston Public Schools in the 1920s,
[''JOURNAL OF THE MUSIC SUPERVISORS NATIONAL CONFERENCE.'' Chicago, Illinois: April 15–20, 1928.] 1930s and 1940s, where he taught
:de:Joe Cocuzzo. Gardner published a timpani method in 1944, a percussion method in 1945 called ''Drums, Cymbals, Accessories,'' and a book called ''Reading Lessons for the First Year Drummer'' in 1950. His book ''Modern Method for Bells, Xylophone, Marimba, and Chimes'' is a recommended volume for teachers of percussion.
[Pearl, Jesse. (1971) ''Music: Instrumental Techniques and Percussion.'' US department of Health, Education, and Welfare.]
Publications
All of Gardner's publications were released with
Carl Fischer Music
Carl Fischer Music is an American sheet music publisher. It was founded in 1872 in the East Village neighborhood of New York City as a musical instrument repair shop. Except for a brief period in the early 1930s, it has always been the family- ...
*''Music Composition''
*''Essentials of Music Theory''
*''The Military Drummer''
*''Music Composition: A New Method of Harmony''
*''The Gardner Modern Method for the Instruments of Percussion''
*''Carl Fischer's Drum Fife and Bugle Corps Leaflets''
*''Progressive Studies for the Snare Drum Book 1 - Elementary''
*''Progressive Studies for the Snare Drum Book 2 - Intermediate''
*''Progressive Studies for the Snare Drum Book III - Advanced''
*''Progressive Studies for the Snare Drum Book IV - Post-Graduate''
*''The Gardner Method for the Timpani''
*''Drums, Cymbals, Accessories''
*''Reading Lessons for the First Year Drummer''
*''Modern Method for Bells, Xylophone, Marimba, and Chimes''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Carl E.
1885 births
20th-century American drummers
American male drummers
20th-century American male musicians
Year of death missing
Drummers from Massachusetts