Schlagzeugfest and Other Strategies for Developing A
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SCHLAGZEUGFEST! and Other Strategies to Create a Culture of Excellence in Your Percussion Section Introduction This session will explore strategies for creating an environment in which your percussion students will grow and thrive. In the context of percussion ensemble, percussion class, or even small group lessons, you can help students develop an ownership of musical excellence and artistry. Be prepared for tips on motivating, educating, and challenging your percussion students. Topics to be covered will include programming, selecting repertoire, scheduling and structuring rehearsals, set-ups, instrumentation modification/substitutions, rehearsal tips and how to create events that showcases the great things happening in your program. The Waubonsie Valley High School Percussion Ensemble will serve as the demonstration group performing a variety of percussion ensemble literature. ! ! ! Contents Program and Personnel……………………………………………………………………….….…4-8 Session Outline ……………..…………………………………………………………….…..……9-12 Resources Great Percussion Artists and Ensembles……….……………..……………………….…….……..13 Considerations for Selecting Percussion Ensemble Literature……………………………….14-16 Common Genres and Representative Literature……………..………………………………..17-20 A Handful of Percussion Ensemble Music by Difficulty…………………………….……..…….21 Some Great Books for Your Library…………………………………………………………….22-24 Percussion Publishers…………………………………………………………………………….….25 Percussion Manufacturers…………………………………………………………………..……….26 Suggested Sticks and Mallets………………………………………………………………..………27 Set Up for Success!……………………………………………………………………………………28 Thank You Page………………………………………………………………………………………29 Closing Message……………………………………………………………………..………….……30 IMEC 2017 - CHRISTOPHER DANDELES !3 Program Little Sea Gongs Gareth Farr Ice Dance Anders Åstrand Study no. 2 in Wood from Four Studies for Young Percussion Ensemble Mario Gaetano Apple Blossom Peter Garland Mercury Rising Nathan Daughtrey Stompin’ Grounds Bela Fleck and Victor Wooten, arr. Hearnes Personnell Cole BenVau, Stephen Ehlert, Jim Keppler, Patrick Krawczyk Brian Martin, Devin Pyla, Christian Smith, Nolan Thilk, Philip Wig IMEC 2017 - CHRISTOPHER DANDELES !4 Program Notes Little Sea Gongs Little Sea Gongs is a miniature companion-piece to From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs, a major work composed for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra which incorporates the visual spectacle of three percussionists playing a line of ten roto toms. The drumming style is very much inspired by Rarotongan log drumming and is fast, furious and very loud. Little Sea Gongs started as a short drumming piece to end the composer`s stage show Drumdrag. Like the larger work, it was intended to be a Rarotongan-style composition, but played on western drums. It was never notated, and was intended to be flexible in its instrumentation—the drummers would simply play on whatever instruments they happened to have handy. The number of performers also varied from three to seven players. The present quartet arrangement of Little Sea Gongs was made at the request of Murray Hickman of the percussion ensemble Strike, and has since become one of the group`s most frequently performed pieces. -notes by the composer Ice Dance Ice Dance is a beautiful keyboard ensemble composed by Swedish percussion virtuoso Anders Åstrand in 2002 for the dance company Barents Dansensemble. Its premier performance was at the Winter Festival "Vintervägen" of the same year and featured instruments crafted from ice during the third movement. The songlike structure of the piece allows for opportunities in free improvisation, which is a typical feature in the Åstrand’s music. The parts vary in difficulty, but a couple of the parts require proficient four-mallet technique. Study no. 2 “Wood” from Four Studies for Young Percussion Ensemble Four Studies for Young Percussion Ensemble was written by Mario Gaetano as a vehicle for young percussionists to explore different timbres available in the percussion family. Each of the four movements features a different set of instruments, with membranes, woods, metals and a mixture in the final movement. Gaetano suggests that each movement could be performed independently, so we have chosen the second movement “Study no. 2 in Wood.” An accessory-type piece like this can serve as a great platform for teaching advanced ensemble and musicianship skills, as well as provide students an opportunity to explore different sound possibilities available with a simple setup. IMEC 2017 - CHRISTOPHER DANDELES !5 Apple Blossom For 3 or more marimbas played by 4 or more musicians. One continuous rolling. With notes added, taken away, brought back. The density increasing, decreasing (i.e. a crescendo of volume; but volume as density, not loudness). Quietly. Time length: 8-12 minutes. A gradual procession. Durations of chords free. No repetition, going back. The following poem is also found in the score: Behind you Casting its last dark flames between your legs The ground of paradise lost Ice of darkness mirror of love And lower down towards your arms that open wide To the proof of spring Of AFTERWARDS And the non-existence of evil All the apple blossom of the sea -notes by the composer Mercury Rising Featuring a balanced ensemble of keyboard and battery percussion, Mercury Rising is, in essence, a double fugue that gives all players the opportunity to shine. After a brief anticipatory introduction, the tempo picks up and the keyboard percussion introduces the primary fugue theme (or subject), with entries by the marimba, the xylophone, and then the vibraphone. The battery joins the excitement before taking over the fugue subject, featuring the snare drum and concert toms. By the time the timpani takes over the subject, all members of the ensemble have entered leading to a climactic explosion at m. 72. After a brief developmental 3/4 section, in which fragments of the fugue subject are strewn about the ensemble, intensity continues to build to the end of the piece, as the theme appears in its loudest and fastest presentation yet. -notes by the composer Stompin’ Grounds Stompin’ Grounds is a catchy and inspired composition by world renowned banjo picker and jazz musician Béla Fleck and bassist Victor Wooten from the album Live Art by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. Maybe Thom Jurek put it best when he described their music as an “unclassifiable meld of jazz, progressive bluegrass, rock, classical, funk, and world music traditions.” Their style has been dubbed by some as “blu-bop.” Featuring driving sixteenth note pedals and fast moving melodies, this upbeat fusion drive from beginning to end. The syncopated rhythms and fluid banjo picking transfer well to percussion ensemble, making this a great transcription for bringing a jazzy pop flavor to any performance. IMEC 2017 - CHRISTOPHER DANDELES !6 Waubonsie Valley Percussion Ensemble The percussion program at Waubonsie Valley High School is committed to developing superb musicianship and aesthetic awareness through studying and performing music for percussion. The comprehensive curriculum also helps students become confident performers, knowledgeable musicians, and productive individuals who are dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in all dimensions of professional life with a life-long passion for music. The Waubonsie Valley Percussion Ensemble was founded as a co-curricular ensemble in 2003 to provide the students opportunities to play significant repertoire composed for the percussion ensemble medium. Now one of the premier ensembles at Waubonsie Valley, the WVPE has performed some of the cornerstones of the percussion repertoire and exposed the students to a wide variety of genres, styles, and composers. The collaborative nature of the ensemble provides students with an identity and a feeling of accomplishment and self-worth as the work together to achieve musical excellence. Students audition to be in the ensemble, and meet twice each week after school to rehearse. Performing several times each year, including two full-length percussion concerts, the WVPE also hosts the annual Schlagzeugfest (“Festival of Hitting Things”) to inspire the percussionists in the middle schools. In addition to concerts at home and in the area, the WVPE was invited to perform on the 2007 Sandy Feldstein National Percussion Festival and in 2015 shared a concert with the internationally-recognized Indiana University Percussion Ensemble. The WVPE was also recently awarded second place in the Black Swamp Percussion Ensemble Showcase. Waubonsie Valley Music Department The Waubonsie Valley Music Department has a long tradition of musical excellence. The music department has been recognized as a GRAMMY Gold Signature School and acknowledged by the National Association of Music Merchants as one of the Best Communities for Music Education. The Music Department offers four curricular bands, six curricular orchestras, seven curricular choirs, and two music theory courses. Curricular ensembles at Waubonsie Valley High School include Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Symphony, Wind Ensemble, Concert Orchestra, Concert Strings, Symphonic Orchestra, Symphonic Strings, Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Strings, Cecillian Singers, Bass Chorus, Concert Choir, Treble Singers, Varsity Singers, and Varsity Chamber Singers. In addition to the large ensemble courses, the music department offers weekly, small-group technique classes for every instrument. Co-curricular ensembles include the Marching Warriors, Warrior Pep Band, Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Band, BigBand Jazz Combo, Percussion