Recommended Percussion Solos and Etudes

Complimentary Percussion Solo Pieces

This is a new commission project that I’m working on – complimentary percussion solos, not etudes – REAL solos for these instruments!   The first volume is going to be for one player using mostly cymbals.  The confirmed composers participating in this volume are:    James Campbell, Casey Cangelosi, Brian Nozny, Ben Wahlund, Emmanuel Séjourné, John Murphree, Baljinder Sekhon and Anders Astrand

Click on the Guidelines for composers Cymbals  to learn about the history and motivation on this commission.  The first piece is already finished – James Campbell’s Montagues Foundry – click here to get the PDF SET UP.   You can get an idea of the piece from this.  Photo below is of me premiering the piece at the U of Miami in September.   I’ll also be premiering Casey’s piece, The Big Audition on April 4th at the University of Connecticut – check this link to see the recital.

Anahit by Keith Aleo

Anahit is the goddess of fertility and healing, wisdom and water in Armenian mythology and is dedicated to Craigie and Debbie Zildjian.   Anahit is for 2 Percussionists playing all Zildjian Instruments.

Anahit’s set up – minimum requirements for each player:  3 dry ride cymbals, 4 effects/splash/crash cymbals, 1 hi-hat, 1 Zil Bell.  If you are interested in playing Anahit, feel free to contact me via email to get the music.

Anahit set up and photos from the first performance

Percussion Accessory Etude

1st Percussionist with the Opera National de Paris (Paris Opera Orchestra)

Jean-Baptiste LECLÈRE

wrote an etude for triangle, cymbals and tambourine that was using in their latest audition –

Check out the downloadable PDF below – it’s a major challenge for any percussionist!

A special thanks to JB for allowing me to post it on this website

Opération Accessoires

Download a GREAT list of Multi Percussion Solos

Arnold Marinissen gave this list out at a class at Boston Conservatory and I thought I’d share it here

It’s an excellent list of multi-percussion solos – simply click to download – Updated Fall 2013

Arnold Marinissen List

Michael Burritt’s Streaming

As mentioned in the News Section, Michael Burritt’s Steaming is for percussion soloist and 4 player percussion ensemble.   The soloist plays an array of cymbals as well as some other percussion instruments.   The piece was kindly commissioned by the Zildjian Company and is dedicated to the company.   I asked Mike to write a piece that I could play with the student percussion ensembles when I visited schools.   Streaming was born!

Mike was intentionally vague about what sizes, types and sounds of cymbals to use for the piece – he calls the cymbals sounds “Cymbal Scape.”   Although I do not advocate using my suggestions for cymbal sounds or set up, I do think this can be a starting point for anyone playing the piece.   The set up is as follows:

Starting from the LH side of the set up and moving right:

– The Spiral Trash is a wonderful sound – I used an 18” that I mounted on a stand and let it hang.

– The 4 Low Drums – I used tom toms with double heads if possible.   I used the largest size I could find.

-The 3 “Gen 16” cymbals are something new – they are used primarily in electronic set ups – but, I found them to be a wonderfully mysterious sound.   I used them in the opening and in the cadenza.  I used the sizzle cymbal in conjunction with the “Gen 16” cymbals.   A link about these cymbals is:http://zildjian.com/Products/Gen16-Landing-Page

1. –Hi Hat – I gravitated toward something heavier and more chunky.
   

2. –The earth plates are a discontinued Zildjian instrument – however, I was able to locate two of them and had them mounted.  Gwen Burgett Thrasher gave the idea of the mounting system with springs.   They totally resonate with this system!   I used a tom tom mount on the underside of the plywood, this simply slips into a tom tom mount.   The only issue is that it’s a little heavy to travel with!   I just carry less clothes!   Photos of the mounting system:

1. –Mike originally wrote for Zil Bells, however, after further discussion, I really wanted something more dry.   So  I stack (tightly) two splash cymbals on top of each other.  They have a super dry sound and provide the articulation needed.
   

2. –For the “Cymbal Scape” (as Mike calls it in the score), I thought long a hard about this.   What to use and why.   Basically, I came up with 3 levels of sounds.   The lowest level are 3 dry ride cymbals and a Zildjian “Crash of Doom.”    I use these cymbals for any types of articulate passages – the end in particular.  The next level are cymbals that are more open in sound – I used several drumset crash cymbals and some Zildjian EFX cymbals.   This is a nice combination of sound when you want something in the piece that rings more with a variety of color.   The top level are cymbals that have the more unusual sounds and a little smaller – mini chinas, splashes (not stacked) and “trashy” sounding cymbals.   I use these cymbals and an expanse of sound from level 2.
   

Cadenza – To play the written cadenza or to play something you create…or a little of both?   This is an important and highly personal decision on the part of the performer.   My decision was to play a little of the written cadenza and to do a significant amount of creative playing on my part.   Mike said this is the performers choice.   I like the idea of bringing the themes of the piece into the cadenza.    I used the drums and cymbals to accomplish this.

If you’d like to play the piece – please contact Mike Burritt directly as it is not published yet.

Mike Burritt contact info:
mburritt@esm.rochester.edu
Office Phone:  (585) 274-1482
The piece will be published soon!  

Complementary Percussion

A Handbook for Tambourine, Triangle, Cymbals and Bass Drum

I have always been an advocate for students learning their instrument before addressing a variety of orchestral excerpts.  Many of my students, especially first year students, enter their first lessons wanting to jump right into a significant amount of orchestral repertoire.   I give students only a few orchestral parts to work on, the goal being that each student must be comfortable on each percussion instrument, both technically and musically, before they address a significant amount of orchestral excerpts.

This belief was put to the test several years ago while working with a graduate student at the University of Miami.  We were beginning a lesson on tambourine, something the student had requested the week before.   As we talked about several techniques, I brought out the sheet music for a couple of orchestral excerpts to demonstrate and apply these techniques.   My student quickly asked me why we would be talking about excerpts before we learned to master the instrument – just like we did on snare drum, xylophone, etc.  Realizing that he had a good point and that I was contradicting myself, I rapidly produced a snare drum book that I planned to apply toward his tambourine playing.   As we played through several of the etudes, I quickly realized that the etudes weren’t idiomatic to the tambourine and were clearly written for a different instrument.   At that moment, an idea was born – an etude book that was specifically written for the tambourine…and maybe it would include etudes for triangle, cymbals, and bass drum!   Not an instruction book that teaches students these instruments with diagrams and playing techniques, but a “real” etude book with progressive etudes and studies.   While similar to my Advanced Etudes for Snare Drum, this book would be written with these specific instruments in mind, providing etudes that are both musically and technically challenging.  With this book, I hope to provide a deeper, educational understanding of these instruments.

Click the below and to download a part of one of the etudes.

Etude 9 Tamb