A Percussionist’s Modest Proposal

Whenever I am asked to be a part of a new music reading of any type, my general reaction and thought process is something along the lines of ‘Nice. I like new things, and I like music. This will be fun.’ Helping a composer bring their vision to life is something that genuinely excites me! 

There are certain trends I’m seeing now from composers in their percussion writing that make my job as a performer even more entertaining and exciting! I have taken the time to list some things I’ve seen during my time as a student and semi-professional that were memorable and put a ”pep in my step,” as the kids say..

3 Percussion-Writing Trends that every composer should do, always:

1. One vibraphone, and EVERYONE gets to play it!! 

I try to be a very fair individual. One of the things I hate most is when I’m playing in a wind ensemble/orchestra and one person gets to hog an instrument for the whole piece! As a composer, I think you should give every percussionist a chance to play all the instruments during the piece - the more sharing the better! 

Take Zion by Dan Welcher. I played this piece in high school, where it completely changed my perception of what percussion writing could be like if composers simply thought more about the percussionists! I distinctly remember the first time we read through the piece: I started on bells and as I was finishing my first phrase, my friend Steve came and stood by me. 

“What are you doing here, Steve?” I asked incredulously. “I thought you were playing bass drum!” 

Steve shot me the roguish grin that made him so popular with the ladies in our high school and showed me his part. “Look, I play bells right after you!” 

I looked at my own part and saw that in 5 measures I was playing bass drum, where Steve had just come from!! It was almost like Dan Welcher knew that Steve and I were best friends and had always envisioned doing some sort of avant-garde percussion relay race in our high school band. Can you imagine how boring it would have been if I had just stayed on bells that whole piece? 

I’m honestly surprised more composition programs don’t have Zion in their curriculum. All of the schools I’ve attended have put out great composers, but if I was in charge of training them I would make sure that Zion was the first AND the last thing they would see as students of my institution. 

For those still doubting me - we all know and agree that Bolero is amazing, but can you imagine how much more engaging it would be if everyone got to play the snare drum? Missed opportunity, Maurice...

2. The trolley problem. 

Imagine that you are helping your mom reorganize her living room and she tasks you to move her ancient vase from one side of the room to the other. You pick up this giant porcelain mistake and as you slowly waddle to the other side of the room, your little brother runs in and hurls a watermelon at your face with all his might. To prevent the watermelon from destroying your face, you have to drop the vase. If you drop the vase, your mom will drop passive-aggressive comments towards you for the rest of your life. What do you do?

If you reacted to this scenario the same way I do, you know what that sweet, sweet adrenaline rush feels like when a composer gives you one eighth-note to switch from some four mallet passage to a snare drum roll. What do I leave out? Does the composer know I am human and only have the average number of limbs? I welcome this challenge, because the “win” part of this win/lose scenario is that I rip a hole in the time/space continuum and Trump will award me the National Medal of Science. Nice. 

But also, the anxiety that comes with this dilemma is only way I feel anything nowadays. 

3. Make me work for it.

Writing for standard percussion instruments is so unoriginal nowadays. Whenever I see the standard bare-bones stuff listed - snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, xylophone - I roll my eyes and I can already tell the composer has no imagination.  Next!

You know what gets me going? Two octave crotale writing. Ooooh yeah. Multiple, multiple sized bass drums? Now you’re talking! Don’t make it easy for us percussionists! We didn’t get into the business to be like those boring string players who sit down with the same instrument for everything they do! We got in this business to spend 30 to 45 minutes setting up for a 5 minute piece, followed by a 20 to 30 minute tear-down sesh. 

Write a complicated cadenza for two chimes!* I know most orchestras and schools have only one set of chimes in their rehearsal hall - I WANT to go down to the crypt and figure out a way to get that ancient second set up to the stage!

Stage setup? That’s for me to worry about! In addition to a full orchestra you’ve written for two full grand pianos and a 5 octave marimba? The marimba is only needed for a low C# in the last measure? No problem! I know it takes up valuable space, but I appreciate that you know 5 octave marimbas offer the best emotional support out of any instrument!

 
I am confident if composers try to implement these guidelines in their writing they’ll make many friends in the percussion section, which as we all know is the primary goal for any new piece. Don’t just do one, go for the trifecta! I look forward to seeing the next wave of percussion writing and the innovations it brings...

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*This happened to me recently. I loved it.