Odd Times: Other Percussion: Instrumental Tutor

SKU: FG.55011-315-2

ISBN 9790550113152.

The Sieidi concerto is in one movement but divided into several sections both faster and slower, wildly rhythmic, lyrical and more static. For the soloist it is extremely demanding because he is constantly having to switch from one technique to another - for djembe and darabuka playing with the hands differs radically from that of tom-tom or drumstick technique or the playing of pitched percussion instruments such as the marimba and vibraphone.

Normally, in a percussion concerto, the soloist has to play surrounded by a huge battery of instruments, often behind the orchestra. In Sieidi he uses only nine instruments, and he is in front of the orchestra the whole time. The instruments are in a row in front of the platform, starting with the djembe on the far right (as viewed by the audience) and ending with the tam-tam on the far left. The soloist plays only one instrument at a time.

The title of the concerto, Sieidi, is Sami - a language spoken in the northern region of Finland, Sweden and Norway known as Lapland. It denotes an ancient cult place such as an unusually-shaped rock, sometimes also a special rock face or even a whole mountain fell.

The Sieidi concerto is in one movement but divided into several sections both faster and slower, wildly rhythmic, lyrical and more static. For the soloist it is extremely demanding because he is constantly having to switch from one technique to another - for djembe and darabuka playing with the hands differs radically from that of tom-tom or drumstick technique or the playing of pitched percussion instruments such as the marimba and vibraphone.

Normally, in a percussion concerto, the soloist has to play surrounded by a huge battery of instruments, often behind the orchestra. In Sieidi he uses only nine instruments, and he is in front of the orchestra the whole time. The instruments are in a row in front of the platform, starting with the djembe on the far right (as viewed by the audience) and ending with the tam-tam on the far left. The soloist plays only one instrument at a time.

The title of the concerto, Sieidi, is Sami - a language spoken in the northern region of Finland, Sweden and Norway known as Lapland. It denotes an ancient cult place such as an unusually-shaped rock, sometimes also a special rock face or even a whole mountain fell.

The Sieidi concerto is in one movement but divided into several sections both faster and slower, wildly rhythmic, lyrical and more static. For the soloist it is extremely demanding because he is constantly having to switch from one technique to another - for djembe and darabuka playing with the hands differs radically from that of tom-tom or drumstick technique or the playing of pitched percussion instruments such as the marimba and vibraphone.

Normally, in a percussion concerto, the soloist has to play surrounded by a huge battery of instruments, often behind the orchestra. In Sieidi he uses only nine instruments, and he is in front of the orchestra the whole time. The instruments are in a row in front of the platform, starting with the djembe on the far right (as viewed by the audience) and ending with the tam-tam on the far left. The soloist plays only one instrument at a time.

The title of the concerto, Sieidi, is Sami - a language spoken in the northern region of Finland, Sweden and Norway known as Lapland. It denotes an ancient cult place such as an unusually-shaped rock, sometimes also a special rock face or even a whole mountain fell.

The Sieidi concerto is in one movement but divided into several sections both faster and slower, wildly rhythmic, lyrical and more static. For the soloist it is extremely demanding because he is constantly having to switch from one technique to another - for djembe and darabuka playing with the hands differs radically from that of tom-tom or drumstick technique or the playing of pitched percussion instruments such as the marimba and vibraphone.

Normally, in a percussion concerto, the soloist has to play surrounded by a huge battery of instruments, often behind the orchestra. In Sieidi he uses only nine instruments, and he is in front of the orchestra the whole time. The instruments are in a row in front of the platform, starting with the djembe on the far right (as viewed by the audience) and ending with the tam-tam on the far left. The soloist plays only one instrument at a time.

The title of the concerto, Sieidi, is Sami - a language spoken in the northern region of Finland, Sweden and Norway known as Lapland. It denotes an ancient cult place such as an unusually-shaped rock, sometimes also a special rock face or even a whole mountain fell.

SKU: PR.44641192L

UPC: 680160610860. 11 x 14 inches.

One of my greatest pleasures in writing a concerto is exploring the new world that opens for me each time I enter the sometimes alien, but always fascinating, world of a solo instrument or instruments. For me, the challenge is to discover the deepest nature of the solo instrument (its karma, if you will) and to allow that essential character to guide the shape and form of the work and the nature of the interaction between soloists and orchestra. In recent years, many of us have become more aware of the musical world outside the Western tradition of musics that follow different procedures and spring from other aesthetics. And contemporary percussionists have opened many of these worlds to us, as they have ventured around the globe, participating in Brazilian Samba schools, studying Gamelan and African drumming with local experts, collecting instruments from Asia and Africa and South America and the South Pacific, widening our horizons in the process. I will never forget our first meeting in Toronto when Nexus invited me into their world of hundreds of exciting percussion instruments. The vast array of instruments in the collection of the Nexus ensemble is truly global in scope as well as offering a thrilling sound-universe. I was inspired by the incredible range of sound and moved by the fact that so many of these instruments were musical reflections of a spiritual dimension. After long consideration, I decided that it would not only be impossible, but even undesirable for this Western-tradition-steeped composer to attempt to use these instruments in a culturally authentic way. My goal was an existential kind of authenticity: searching instead for universal ideas that would be true to both myself and the performers while acknowledging the traditional uses of the instruments. Since many percussion instruments are associated with various kinds of ritual, I decided that I would allow that concept to shape my piece. Rituals is in four movements, each issuing from a ritual associated with percussion, but with the orchestral interaction providing an essential element in the musical form. I. Invocation alludes to the traditions of invoking the spirit of the instruments, or the gods, or the ancestors before performing. II. Ambulation moves from a processional, through march and dance to fantasy based on all three. III. Remembrances alludes to traditions of memorializing. IV. Contests progresses from friendly competition games, contests to a suggestion of a battle of big band drummers, to warlike exchanges. In the 2nd and 4th movements, another percussion tradition, improvisation, is employed. Written into these movements are a number of seeds for improvisation. Indications in the score call for the soloists to improvise in three different ways, marked A for percussion alone; marked B for percussion with and in response to the orchestra; and C where the percussionists are free to add and embellish the written parts. These improvisations should grow out of and embellish previous motives and gestures in the movement.

SKU: CF.SPS78

ISBN 9781491152553. UPC: 680160910052. Key: Bb major.

Festival March is presented in a new edition arranged by Richard Summers. It is a tour de force composition for advanced bands and hearkens back to a bygone era during the golden age of the band movement. Directors and students will hear operatic music from composer Victor Herbert who is best known for his Christmas classic, Toyland. This is a richly scored masterpiece that deserves to return to standard status in concert band repertoire. We are proud to bring you this new setting of this cherished classic.
Festival March by Victor Herbert was written for the Pittsburgh Symphony and first performed under Herbert’s direction in Chicago on Dec. 9, 1901 celebrating the 12th anniversary of Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre. Also known as the Auditorium Festival March, he included it many times for programs of a festival nature. The main theme Auld Lang Syne, a famous Scottish folk song, is incorporated many times along with brass fanfares, interludes and march melodies. This band arrangement is very similar to the original orchestral composition. The missing string parts, the addition of the saxophone section and other band instruments, editing of the superimposed triplets against sixteenth notes, to one or the other, and articulations suitable for the band, were major challenges. The style of early twentieth-century American music is captured here. This arrangement will give band musicians access to a fine piece of music that could only be appreciated by orchestra musicians up to now. Although suitable for many occasions, this piece is a great way to begin or end a December holiday concert.  Notes to the ConductorVictor Herbert’s music can be interpreted in a romantic style, which is the conductor’s responsibility to read in nuance and musicality. The beginning and other triple-tonguing sections of this piece have a March of the Toys quality to it.  The interludes and Auld Lang Syne sections are legato and musical. The March sections can also be shaped musically.About the ComposerVictor Herbert was born in Ireland in 1861 and raised in Germany. When he moved to America in 1886, he joined the Metropolitan Opera as principal cellist and eventually composed many works including forty-three operettas on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I, including Naughty Marietta and Babes in Toyland. Victor Herbert conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1898 to 1904 and then was the conductor of his own Victor Herbert Orchestra. He formed ASCAP with a group of composers in 1914 and was the director until his death in 1924. Among his thirty-one compositions for orchestra, Festival March was a favorite of his and was eventually published by Carl Fischer Music.  .