When You Hear the Drum

Brian Slawson

General Info

Year of Published: 2017
Publisher: Tapspace
Difficulty: Intermediate
Duration: 00:05:00
Cost: $36.00

Description

When You Hear the Drum by Brian Slawson combines two traditional chants - Sing We Now of Christmas and Fife and Drum - into a modern work for intermediate percussion ensemble. Perfect for any holiday concert, this piece is groove-oriented with many opportunities for players to step out and improvise a solo. With a wide range of parts from keyboard melodies to syncopated drum accompaniment, and fun accessories throughout, there is definitely a part for a student of any skill level in this fun holiday jam!

Instrumentation

Player 1: Piano & Claves & Crash Cymbals & Suspended Cymbal & Tam-Tam (Large)
Player 2: Glockenspiel & Snare Drum
Player 3: Marimba
Player 4: Marimba & Crash Cymbals & Tam-Tam (Small)
Player 5: Xylophone & Finger Cymbals & Suspended Cymbals & Hand Drum
Player 6: Timpani
Player 7: Drum Set
Player 8: Concert Tom Toms & Bongos & Vibraslap
Player 9: Triangle & Maracas & Tambourine & Claves
Player 10: Chimes & Suspended Cymbal & Temple Blocks & Bass Drum

Review

“When You Hear the Drum” was commissioned by Jim McCarl and Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy Percussion Ensemble from Melbourne, Florida. In one five-minute piece, Brian Slawson has managed to cleverly combine two well-known traditional chants: “Sing We Now of Christmas” and “Fife & Drum.” The arrangement is packaged in such a way that it’s accessible to almost any group of students. Parts are included on a compact disc for repeated printing (handy if students tend to lose parts!). One note for directors: the size of the score makes for laborious reading, since it’s printed on 8.5 x 11 paper in landscape format.

The tune begins sparsely, with solo floor tom (presumably to emulate a large Renaissance-type drum). Other instruments are slowly added to build a rhythmic texture, and then the melodic material arrives, given to the piano, glockenspiel, and marimba. Slawson does an admirable job of orchestrating these two folk chants. The melody parts are not doubled and are split between the different keyboards in an interesting fashion. The accessory parts are all properly scored and require no extended techniques. A successful performance of this tune will require players to employ a sense of long-term phrasing and accompany sensitively on all instruments.

The mallet technique required is minimal. These two-mallet parts are playable by students with little keyboard experience. “When You Hear the Drum” is appropriate for middle school and high school ensembles looking for an addition to their holiday concert program. It’s far too easy for college level players, and even high school students may get bored by the lack of advanced material. Stronger players in the ensemble should be given parts that allow solo improvisation in the culminating section, namely the hand drum, drumset, and Latin percussion parts. Written by Philip O'Banion

Works for Percussion by this Composer

Solos

Two-Beat Tango
Dynamic Solos for Timpani
Dynamic Solos for Mallets
Dynamic Solos for Snare Drum
Cricket
Animal Cracker Rag

Percussion Ensemble

A Little Malletmusik
Angels in the Moonlight
Animals
Bongito
Candlesticks - Percussion Octet
Christmas Day
Dreams From the Dark Forest
Füm Drum
Jokers Wild
La Vida de la Noche (Mallet Ensemble)
La Vida de la Noche (Percussion Ensemble)
Little Lullabies
Nanigo Navidad - Percussion (11)
Odd Duck - Percussion Quartet
Opa! - Percussion 10
Pelican - Percussion (9)
Pistoleros - Percussion (13)
Pop Drop
Rockbox - Percussion Nonet
Santa's Strut
Tale of the Dragon
The Three Buccaneers
Top Tank
When You Hear the Drum
Winterland - Percussion Octet

Percussion Ensemble with Other Instrument

An American Dream - Percussion Ensemble & Trumpet