Percussion 101: Percussion Families When most people ask what I play, I say "Percussion". They usually look at me with a questioning look, and a "Oh, that's nice". Then I say, "I play the drums." The lightbulb hits. "Oh, you are a DRUMMER!" Percussion is more than Animal banging on a set of toms. It is more than "More COWBELL!" and it is definitely more than that little monkey that plays the cymbals. There are several different groups of percussion instruments. Since percussion instruments essentially include anything you hit or shake to make noise (including noisemakers like bird whistles, car brake drums, radios, and the kitchen sink), being able to include every instrument seems like a daunting task.  Generally musicians group percussion into pitched and non-pitched percussion. Here are some basic pitched Percussion Instruments:  Pitched Metals : Bells, Crotales, Vibraphone, Chimes Pitched Wood : Marimba, Xylophone Pitched Drum...

Nearly every piece that comes a Percussionist 's way will consist of the following: A run-of-the-mill SNARE DRUM part A BASS DRUM part which plays monotonously on beats 1 and 3 A MALLET part (usually bells --ouch--- or xylophone) which mimics the woodwinds And a TIMPANI part which copies the tubas or basses Oh, and let's not forget the CYMBAL part, which consists of enthralling cymbal rolls and exciting CRASHES!!!! Now, not much can be done for those currently de-composers who had to write for this instrumentation. After all, if the reigning monarch or local cathedral had a set of kettle drums, a military drum, and a couple of metal plates, that was what you had to go with. Writing for the army? Ditto. The Church your patron? Just try incorporating hand drums. Heretics, for sure. BUT...this IS the Third Millennium. And PERCUSSION has come to mean pretty much anything, yep ANYTHING, you can hit, beat, scrape, blow, whistle, bow, shake, roll, kick, turn on, p...

BUY COMPOSER BOOT CAMP BYSABRINA YOUNG TODAY Top 10 Mistakes When Writing for Percussion by Sabrina Young 10. Indicating the wrong mallets for an instrument. Brass mallets on vibes? Try a hammer on a violin! 9. Writing the glockenspiel part as heard. You shouldn't have to climb a ladder of leger lines to read a glock part. Keep it in the staff. 8. When in doubt, adding more suspended cymbal. This is a huge mistake made by arrangers. Yep, cymbals add automatic intensity to a piece, but so can a bass drum roll, a rousing hand drum part, exciting mallet licks, or a hundred other combinations. Well-written percussion parts stand out in the band and church repertoire. 7. Better means more complicated, right? This is my main mistake. A percussion part can be simple enough for a middle school, but it is the ability to use the different tone colors of the percussion palette properly that indicates a maturity in writing, not that impossible part for the timpanist that ...

When composing for percussion, it is important to know the difference between a variety of mallets. Although in most cases the percussionist will choose the proper mallets for the passage, sometimes as a composer, you want a particular sound. It is always good to research a mallet before indicating it in your score. Consult a percussion catalogue for a more in-depth look at the hundreds of mallets available. 1. YARN MALLETS They come in every dynamic range from supersoft baseball-sized to forte. They are the multi-purpose mallet, used for toms, suspended cymbal rolls, marimba, xylophone, woodblock, and pretty much anytime a percussionist doesn't have time to pick up another mallet. 2. CORD MALLETS These are harder than the yarn mallets. More effective on xylophone and vibes, these mallets can also be used for a variety of percussion instruments. 3. BRASS MALLETS These are for use on the glockenspiel/bells and the occasional brake drum. They produce a more "tinny" kind of ...