Percussion Exam Pieces & Studies Grade 4: Percussion: Instrumental Tutor

SKU: TL.TCL616029

A collection of material for Timpani, some of which features in the Trinity College London Percussion exam syllabus. Included are a selection of graded excercises (Grades 1–5) and studies, together with pieces by Keith Bartlett and David Hext. Pieces which are included on the current Percussion syllabus are: Nimble Stix (Grade 3), Galop (Grade 4), Sweet Sixteenths (Grade 4), Mischievous March (Grade 6), Trinity Variations (Grade 7) and Dialogues (Grade 8).

SKU: GI.G-279529

ISBN 9781574634808. UPC: 888680756123.

This collection of exercises, melodies, and excerpts is designed to inspire the intermediate two-mallet player with music that is both musically expressive and technically challenging. Selections cover a wide range of dynamics, phrasing and articulation in a variety of tempos, styles and genres. The examples become progressively more difficult as new technical and musical concepts are introduced. The book includes additional information about each piece, the composer, and the historical time period, as well as definitions of musical terms. This Spotify playlist has recordings of the pieces referenced in this book:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6hSN6udmTn7Wouf5NVWt2Z?si=J-FYb66cTtqNwfQb-QsWiA.

SKU: IS.FP7396EM

ISBN 9790365073962.

Nico Schoeters took his first percussion lessons with Eric Buyle in the Academy for Music and Word in Boom, near Antwerp, after getting the hang of it through private lessons by Jozef Vervliet. Afterwards he continued his music studies at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, where he was taught by Leo Ouderits, Carlo Willems and Koen Wilmaers. In 1998 he graduated there with great distinction as Master in percussion. After cooperating on various projects in Belgium and abroad as a freelance percussionist, Nico took up a position as a percussionist in the National Orchestra of Belgium. However, despite of all his achievements as a percussionist, Nico Schoeters didn’t take his first musical steps by playing percussion, but by playing the piano. His love for the piano remained a common thread in his musical career. For example, he played numerous gigs as a pianist with his jazz quartet ‘Just Friends, consisting of a number of top musicians who are his friends. In addition he started composing piano works in 2012. Cosmopolydian is my first composition for symphonic windband. It's a solo piece for flute and vibraphone which is dedicated to Inge Smedts, principal piccolo at the Royal Wind Band of the Belgian Guides. It is written in the context of a musical project ‘Cocktail Maison'. This project includes a concert on May 25th, 2017 in De Singel in Antwerp where this work will be premiered, a CD recording and a concert tour. All the pieces for this project are new compositions by Piet Swerts, Jef Neve, Klaas Coulembier, Etienne Houben, Bart Watté, Jan Huylebroeck, Francois Glorieux and myself. All the compositions are inspired by a cocktail. My choice is the Cosmopolitan, but the non-alcoholic version, the mocktail actually. The title Cosmopolydian is a nod to the lydian scale which I used as a base for the majority of the piece. The idea behind the music is an image of children enjoying themselves, worry-free, during the holidays. Tired but satisfied, they go to sleep and have wonderful dreams. The next day they wake up to start a beautiful new day. The work is constructed in a typical ABA form. A quick first part: ‘sparkling allegro', which of course should sound very light and playful. A slow middle part warm adagio, in which the beautiful dreams become audible. The last part is a re-exposition of the first part in which eventually all the themes merge into the final.

SKU: PR.11641139L

UPC: 680160682126.

Barcarolles for a Sinking City was inspired by the city of Venice, a place that has long held the fascination of artists, writers and composers, and which I have been lucky enough to visit on several occasions. Sadly it seems that future generations may not be so lucky: in addition to the city's slow sinking and recently discovered tilting, studies predict that if global warming and the resultant rise of ocean levels is unabated, the entire city (as well as many other coastal cities around the globe) will be under water by 2100.   I. Funeral Gondola The late, cryptic piano works of Franz Liszt made a profound impression on me as a young composer, among them two works he entitled La Lugubre Gondola (usually translated as The Funeral Gondola ) which were said to be a premonition of Wagner's death in Venice, his coffin transported through the canals in a black gondola. These late pieces of Liszt acquired even greater significance to me after I spent two summers in Bayreuth under the patronage of Friedelind Wagner, the granddaughter of Wagner and great-granddaughter of Liszt. This movement is a meditation on Wagner, Liszt, Venice and its own evanescence. II. Barcarolle/Quodlibet The Quodlibet (Latin for what pleases) is a musical form dating back to the 15th century where many disparate melodies are juxtaposed. Popular in the Renaissance, sacred and secular melodies were combined, often to comical effect due to the resultant incongruity of the words. The form was considered the ultimate test of a composer's mastery of counterpoint. The most famous Quodlibet is without doubt the final Variation of Bach's Goldberg Variations. As a form the Quodlibet is less common in more recent music, although examples can be found in the works of Kurt Weill and David Del Tredici.   My own Barcarolle/Quodlibet was inspired by the (perhaps apocryphal) story of the funeral where musicians were asked to play a Bach Choral, but due to miscommunication played instead the Bacarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann. Here, the Bach Choral Allen Menschen mussen sterben (All Men Must Die) is heard in the strings pizzicato, with a tempo indication In slow motion. The alto line of the Bach suggests a phrase from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Alle Menchen werden Bruder) heard in the muted trombone. Before long, the famous tune from Offenbach's opera is heard, followed by quotations from iconic Barcarolles by Chopin, Mendelssohn and Faure, as well as two Venetian popular songs and more Beethoven.   III. Barcarola/Ostinato/Carillon An ostinato is a repeated musical figure, and carillon is Italian for music box. This movement references the obsolete genre of salon pieces that imitated music boxes: such works by composers like Liadov and Gretchaninov used to be a mainstay of pianists' encore repertoire. This movement is however much darker in conception than those pleasant trifles. Utilizing the full battery of percussion, the carefully notated temporal slowing of the ostinato becomes overwhelmed by a poignant chorale melody before this box is snapped shut.   IV. Barcarolle Oubliee (Forgotten Barcarolle) Marked limpido (still) the final movement begins with the sound of rain produced by a percussion instrument called (appropriately) a rain stick. Halting phrases in the harp coalesce into the accompaniment for a plangent melody heard in the clarinet. The central Adagio of this movement leads to a shattering climax, before the opening phrases return and dissipate into nothingness.