How to Write for Percussion - A Comprehensive Guide to Percussion Composition

Informationen zum Autor Samuel Z. Solomon teaches percussion at The Boston Conservatory, Boston University, and The BU Tanglewood Institute. He is author of the acclaimed book, How To Write For Percussion, as well as three books on percussion playing and was curator of two collections of percussion etudes and solos. Solomon is founding member of the Yesaroun' Duo and the Line C3 percussion group, and is principal timpanist of the Amici New York chamber orchestra. Please visit www.szsolomon.com for more. How to Write for Percussion is a comprehensive resource that clearly explains and simplifies all issues that percussionists and composers face with respect to each other. Zusammenfassung How to Write for Percussion is a comprehensive resource that clearly explains and simplifies all issues that percussionists and composers face with respect to each other. Table of Contents; Introduction; How This Book is Organized; Instruments Covered; Working with Percussionists; Location Specifics; The Value of Not Reading This Book; 1. General Framework; A Dysfunctional Family; Comparison of Family Relationships; The Problem of Pitch; The Pitches of Percussion; The Validations and Limitations of Novelty; Three Methods for Indeterminately Pitch Instruments; The Written/Improv Divide; Expanding the Color Palette (to Shrink the Setup); The Value of Improvised and Non-Notated Music; Social Composition; Write for People, Not Sounds; Write What is Wanted, Not What To Do; Working with Percussionists; 2. General Logistics; Instrument Choice and Management; Six Stories, Three Sad and Three Happy; Why Use Fewer Instruments?; How to Consolidate; Inexpensive Instruments; Exotic Instruments; Electronic Percussion; Multiple Options for a Specified Instrument; Instruments Percussionists May Not Play; Multiple Percussionists; Section Setup; Orchestra; Wind Ensemble; Broadway Pit; Drum Corps and Marching Bands; Specialists; Non-Percussionists Playing Percussion; Chairs and Stands; Issues of Playability; Excessive Polyphony; How Fast Percussionists Can Play; Unidiomatic Writing-Music that Often Requires Memorization; Dynamics; Reaching Instruments; Instruments with Pedals; Physical Exertion and Shaking; Working with Headphones or Headset Microphones; 3. General Notation; Basics of Percussion Parts and Scores; Instrument List; Instrument Key; Setup Diagram; Language; Parts; Cues; Percussion in the Conductor's Score; Dynamics; Designing a Notational System; Clefs; Staves; Noteheads; Mixing Determinately and Indeterminately Pitched Instruments; Key Signatures; What Goes Where on the Staff; The Chicken or the Egg?; Unspecified Instruments (Indeterminate Instrumentation); How Much to Notate; Systems of Notation for Which There is No Standard; Return to a Normal Method of Playing; Note Length, Articulation, and Phrasing; Note Length Chart; Exact or Inexact Note-Length Indications; Muting (Muffling, Dampening); Dead Stroke; Damper Pedals; Rolls; Notations that are Not Recommended; Symbol Notation; Altered Keyboard Notation (Timbre-Staff); 4. Beaters; To Indicate or Not to Indicate?; Beater Lingo; Logistical Beater Issues; Sticks; Mallets; Triangle Beaters, Knitting Needles; Brushes; Rute; Chime Hammers; Superball Mallet; Beaters as Instruments; Hands; Bows; 5. Keyboard Percussion; Ranges and Construction; Writing for Keyboard Percussion; Stacked Instruments; Multiple Players; Extended Techniques; Miscellaneous; 6. Drums; Sticks on Drums; Mallets on Drums; Hands on Drums; Playing on the Rim or Shell; Beating Spot; Mutes; Pitch Bending; Drum Size; Two-He...

List of contents

• Table of Contents


• Introduction


• How This Book is Organized


• Instruments Covered


• Working with Percussionists


• Location Specifics


• The Value of Not Reading This Book


• 1. General Framework


• A Dysfunctional Family


• Comparison of Family Relationships


• The Problem of Pitch


• The Pitches of Percussion


• The Validations and Limitations of Novelty


• Three Methods for Indeterminately Pitch Instruments


• The Written/Improv Divide


• Expanding the Color Palette (to Shrink the Setup)


• The Value of Improvised and Non-Notated Music


• Social Composition


• Write for People, Not Sounds


• Write What is Wanted, Not What To Do


• Working with Percussionists


• 2. General Logistics


• Instrument Choice and Management


• Six Stories, Three Sad and Three Happy


• Why Use Fewer Instruments?


• How to Consolidate


• Inexpensive Instruments


• Exotic Instruments


• Electronic Percussion


• Multiple Options for a Specified Instrument


• Instruments Percussionists May Not Play


• Multiple Percussionists


• Section Setup


• Orchestra


• Wind Ensemble


• Broadway Pit


• Drum Corps and Marching Bands


• Specialists


• Non-Percussionists Playing Percussion


• Chairs and Stands


• Issues of Playability


• Excessive Polyphony


• How Fast Percussionists Can Play


• Unidiomatic Writing-Music that Often Requires Memorization


• Dynamics


• Reaching Instruments


• Instruments with Pedals


• Physical Exertion and Shaking


• Working with Headphones or Headset Microphones


• 3. General Notation


• Basics of Percussion Parts and Scores


• Instrument List


• Instrument Key


• Setup Diagram


• Language


• Parts


• Cues


• Percussion in the Conductor's Score


• Dynamics


• Designing a Notational System


• Clefs


• Staves


• Noteheads


• Mixing Determinately and Indeterminately Pitched Instruments


• Key Signatures


• What Goes Where on the Staff


• The Chicken or the Egg?


• Unspecified Instruments (Indeterminate Instrumentation)


• How Much to Notate


• Systems of Notation for Which There is No Standard


• Return to a "Normal " Method of Playing


• Note Length, Articulation, and Phrasing


• Note Length Chart


• Exact or Inexact Note-Length Indications


• Muting (Muffling, Dampening)


• Dead Stroke


• Damper Pedals


• Rolls


• Notations that are Not Recommended


• Symbol Notation


• Altered Keyboard Notation (Timbre-Staff)


• 4. Beaters


• To Indicate or Not to Indicate?


• Beater Lingo


• Logistical Beater Issues


• Sticks


• Mallets


• Triangle Beaters, Knitting Needles


• Brushes


• Rute


• Chime Hammers


• Superball Mallet


• Beaters as Instruments


• Hands


• Bows


• 5. Keyboard Percussion


• Ranges and Construction


• Writing for Keyboard Percussion


• Stacked Instruments


• Multiple Players


• Extended Techniques


• Miscellaneous


• 6. Drums


• Sticks on Drums


• Mallets on Drums


• Hands on Drums


• Playing on the Rim or Shell


• Beating Spot


• Mutes


• Pitch Bending


• Drum Size


• Two-Headed Drums


• Multiple Drums in Setups


• Idiomatic Writing for Drums


• Timpani


• Tom-toms


• Snare Drum, Field Drum, Tenor Drum


• Concert Bass Drum, Pedal Bass Drum


• Bongos, Congas


• Timbales


• Roto-Toms


• Frame Drums


• Tambourines


• Djembe, Doumbek


• Boobams


• Drumset


• 7. Metal


• Cymbals


• Gongs


• Finger Cymbals


• Cowbells, Almglocken


• Temple Bowls, Mixing Bowls


• Brake Drums, Metal Pipes, Anvils, Bell Plates


• Thundersheet


• Junk Metal, Tin Cans, Pots and Pans


• Ribbon Crasher


• Spring Coil


• Church Bells


• Hand Bells


• Steel Drums


• Tambourines


• Sleighbells


• Metal Wind Chimes, Mark Tree, Bell Tree


• Flexatone


• Extended Techniques


• 8. Wood


• Woodblocks, Templeblocks, Log Drum


• Wooden Planks


• Wood Drums, Wooden Boxes, Cajón, Mahler Hammer


• Claves


• Castanets


• Rute


• Guiro


• Slapstick


• Ratchet


• Bamboo Wind Chimes


• 9. Miscellaneous Instruments


• Bottles


• Cabasa


• Conch Shell


• Crystal Glasses


• Maracas, Shakers


• Rainstick


• Rice Bowls, Flower Pots


• Sandpaper Blocks


• Sirens


• String Drum, Cuica


• Stones, Prayer Stones


• Thumb Piano


• Vibraslap


• Wind Chimes


• Whistles


• Wind Machine


• Appendix A. Repertoire Analysis


• Percussion Ensemble


• Edgard Varèse, Ionisation (1929-31)


• John Cage, Constructions (1939-1942)


• Iannis Xenakis, Persephassa (1969)


• Steve Reich, Drumming (1970-71)


• Steve Mackey, It is Time (2010)


• John Luther Adams, Inuksuit (2009)


• Ryan Streber, Cold Pastoral (2004)


• Nico Muhly, Ta and Clap (2004)


• Adam Silverman, Naked and On Fire (2011)


• Paul Lansky, Travel Diary (2007)


• Orchestral


• Bela Bartók


• Sergei Prokofiev


• Maurice Ravel


• Gustav Mahler


• Dmitri Shostakovich


• Leonard Bernstein


• Carl Nielsen


• Jean Sibelius


• Wind Ensemble


• Smaller Mixed Ensemble


• John Adams, Chamber Symphony (1992)


• Stephan Hartke, Meanwhile (2007)


• Jacob Druckman, Come Round (1992)


• Charles Wuorinen, New York Notes (1982)


• Pierre Boulez, Sur Incises (1996/1998)


• Percussion Solo-Drums


• Michio Kitazume, Side by Side (1991)


• Elliott Carter, Eight Pieces for Four Timpani (1950/1966)


• Casey Cangelosi, Meditation No. 1 (2011)


• Percussion Solo-Keyboards


• Jacob Druckman, Reflections on the Nature of Water (1986)


• Paul Simon, Amulet (2008)


• Steve Mackey, See Ya Thursday (1992)


• Steve Swallow/Gary Burton, I'm Your Pal/Hullo Bolinas


• Donald Martino, Soliloquy (2003)


• Percussion Solo-Multi-Percussion


• Iannis Xenakis, Psappha (1975)


• David Lang, Anvil Chorus (1991)


• Roger Reynolds, Watershed (1995)


• Four Pieces for "Setup #1 "


• Nico Muhly, It's About Time (2004)


• Michael Early, Raingutter (2007)


• Marcos Balter, Descarga (2006)


• Judd Greenstein, We Shall Be Turned (2006)


• Percussion Concerto


• James MacMillan, Veni Veni Emmanuel (1992)


• Einojuhani Rautavaara, Incantations (2008)


• Steven Mackey, Micro-Concerto (1999)


• Orchestrating Native Sounds


• Appendix B. Sample Setups


• Appendix C. Extended Techniques


• Return to a "Normal " Method of Playing


• Manipulations of Timbre


• Striking Unusual Parts of an Instrument


• Unusual Usage of Beaters


• Dead Stroke


• Beating Spot


• Bowing


• Friction Roll


• Scrape


• Prepared Instruments


• Pitch Bending


• Vibrato


• Adding Mass


• Sympathetic Resonance


• Clusters


• Harmonics


• Appendix D. Pitch Specification


• Appendix E. Dynamics


• Appendix F. Register


• Appendix G. Beaters


• Appendix H. Percussion Family Tree


• Pitch Clarity Chart


• Note Length Chart


• Register Chart


• Sound Production Chart


• The Percussion Family Tree

About the author

Samuel Z. Solomon teaches percussion at The Boston Conservatory, Boston University, and The BU Tanglewood Institute. He is author of the acclaimed book, How To Write For Percussion, as well as three books on percussion playing and was curator of two collections of percussion etudes and solos. Solomon is founding member of the Yesaroun' Duo and the Line C3 percussion group, and is principal timpanist of the Amici New York chamber orchestra. Please visit www.szsolomon.com for more.

Product details

• Authors: Samuel Z. Solomon, Samuel Z. (Coordinator of Percussion Solomon
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 12.05.2016
• EAN: 9780199920341
• ISBN: 978-0-19-992034-1
• No. of pages: 312
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > Instrument lessons; Musikwissenschaft und Musiktheorie, Music / Songbooks, MUSIC / Musical Instruments / Percussion, MUSIC / Instruction & Study / Composition