James Blades

James Blades

He was one of the most distinguished percussionists in Western music, with a long and varied career. His book Percussion Instruments and their History (1971) is a standard reference work on the subject.[3]^[4]

Blades was born in Peterborough in 1901.^[5] He was a long-time associate of Benjamin Britten, with whom he conceived many of the composer's unusual percussion effects.^[6] In 1954, Blades was appointed Professor of Percussion at the Royal Academy of Music.

As a chamber musician he played with the Melos Ensemble and the English Chamber Orchestra.

Blades' pupils included the rock drummers Max Sedgley, Carl Palmer, and Richard James Burgess as well as percussionist Evelyn Glennie.

His most famous and widely heard performances were the sound of the drum playing "V-for-Victory" in

His autobiography Drum Roll: A Professional Adventure from the Circus to the Concert Hall was published by Faber & Faber in 1977.

Bibliography

• Orchestral Percussion Techniques (Oxford: University, 1961)
  ISBN 978-0-19-318801-3
• Percussion Instruments and their History (London: Faber & Faber, 1971)
  ISBN 978-0-571-08858-4
• Early Percussion Instruments from the Middle Ages to the Baroque (Oxford: University, 1976)
  ISBN 978-0-19-323176-4
  (with Jeremy Montagu)
• Drum Roll: A Professional Adventure from the Circus to the Concert Hall (London: Faber & Faber, 1977)
  ISBN 978-0-571-10107-8
• Ready to Play (London: BBC, 1978)
  ISBN 978-0-563-17610-7
  (with Carole Ward)
• From Cave to Cavern (London: Sussex, 1982)
  ISBN 978-1-86013-138-7
• A Check-List of the Percussion Instruments in the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments (Edinburgh: Reid School of Music, 1982)
  ISBN 978-0-907635-07-9
• How to Play Drums (London: Penguin, 1985)
  ISBN 978-0-241-11670-8
  (with Johnny Dean)
• These I Have Met... (London: Music Sales, 1998)
  ISBN 978-0-905210-77-3