Research Catalog

Title

How to write for percussion : a comprehensive guide to percussion composition / Samuel Z. Solomon.

Author

Solomon, Samuel Z.

Publication

• New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2016.
• ©2016

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xviii, 288 pages; 26 cm

Summary

While composers and percussionists are working more closely than ever with one another, there are few resources that address this collaborative relationship in depth. Samuel Z. Solomon, himself a percussionist and teacher, offers How to Write for Percussion to fill this longstanding need. The first edition, self-published in 2004, provided musicians and music programs the world over with practical and indispensible information about issues of notation, concert production, and much more. This new edition expands the survey of behind-the-scenes processes-from instrument choice and notation to logistics, execution, and concert production-to uncover the tools a composer needs to comfortably create innovative and skilled percussion composition. Featuring an extensive Online Video Companion containing over nine hours of videos with demonstrations, performances, interviews, and analysis, How to Write for Percussion is sure to appeal to a wide swath of musicians and composers. Those familiar with the first edition will welcome the upgrade, and those who have yet to benefit from Solomon's perspective will find his insights illuminating. Book jacket.

Subject

• Composition (Music)
• Percussion instruments > Instruction and study

Note

• Includes index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• Introduction. How this book is organized ; Instruments covered ; Working with percussionists ; Location specifics ; The value of not reading this book.
• 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.
• 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 the instruments ; Instruments with pedals ; Physical exertion and shaking ; Working with headphones or headset microphones.
• 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).
• Beaters. To indicate or not to indicate? ; Beater lingo ; Logistical beater issues ; Sticks ; Mallets ; Triangle beaters and Knitting needles ; Brushes ; Rute sticks ; Chime hammers (Tubular bell hammers) ; Superball mallet ; Beaters as instruments ; Hands ; Bows -- Keyboard percussion. Ranges and construction ; Writing for keyboard percussion ; Stacked instruments ; Multiple players ; Extended techniques ; Miscellaneous.
• 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, and Tenor drum ; Concert bass drum and Pedal bass drum ; Bongos and Congas ; Timbales ; Roto-toms ; Frame drums ; Tambourines ; Djembe and Doumbek ; Boobams ; Drumset.
• Metal. Cymbals ; Gongs ; Finger cymbals ; Cowbells and Almglocken ; Temple bowls and Mixing bowls ; Brake drums, Metal pipes, Anvils, and Bell plates ; Thundersheet ; Junk metal, Tin cans, and Pots and pans ; Ribbon crasher ; Spring coil ; Church bells ; Hand bells ; Steel drums ; Tambourines ; Sleighbells ; Metal wind chimes, Mark tree, and Bell tree ; Flexatone ; Extended techniques.
• Wood. Woodblocks, Templeblocks, and Log drum ; Wooden planks ; Wood drums, Wooden boxes, Cajâon, and Mahler hammer ; Claves ; Castanets ; Rute ; Guiro ; Slapstick ; Ratchet ; Bamboo wind chimes -- Miscellaneous instruments. Bottles ; Cabasa ; Conch shell ; Crystal glasses ; Maracas and Shakers ; Rainstick ; Rice bowls and Flower pots ; Sandpaper blocks ; Sirens ; String drum and Cuica ; Stones and Prayer stones ; Thumb piano ; Vibraslap ; Wind chimes ; Whistles ; Wind machine --
• Appendix A. Repertoire analysis. Percussion ensemble. Edgard Varáese, Ionisation (1929-1931) ; John Cage, Constructions (1939-1942) ; Iannis Xenakis, Persephassa (1969) ; Steve Reich, Drumming (1970-1971) ; Steve Mackey, It is time (2010) ; John Luther Adams, Inuksuit (2009) ; Ryan Streber, Cold pastoral (2004) ; Nico Muhly, Ta & clap (2004) ; Adam Silverman, Naked and on fire (2011) ; Paul Lansky, Travel diary (2007) -- Orchestral. Bâela Bartâok ; 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 and 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 the author's "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 sound.
• 505 8 $a 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.

ISBN

• 9780199920341
• 0199920346
• 9780199920365
• 0199920362

LCCN

^^2015018562

OCLC

• 909112416
• SCSB-10061822

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library