A composer emails the percussion score for a new orchestra piece to a per-cussionist friend for some notational advice. The work calls for timpanist plus three percussionists (“T+3”). Upon studying the score, the percussionist finds
Tam-tam
some errors and unnecessary redundancies in the instrument list. The original list is:
timpani
percussion 1: crotales, vibraphone, snare drum, crash cymbals, guiro, gong percussion 2: xylophone, vibraphone, 4 tom- toms, hi- hat, slapstick
percussion 3: glockenspiel, crotales, marimba, 2 tenor drums, bass drum, 2 suspended cymbals
Players 1 and 2 both need vibraphone. Could all the vibraphone material be cov-ered by one person? If not, can that vibraphone be shared, or does the piece require two vibraphones? He investigates and determines that despite one quick switch from xylophone, player 2 can cover all the vibraphone material.
Players 1 and 3 both need crotales. He investigates and finds that both players need a full two octaves of crotales, and they cannot share because they play at the same time. While player 1 plays crotales several times in the piece, player 3’s part has only one crotale measure. Since player 3 already has glockenspiel, is this one mea-sure worth having two full sets of crotales on stage? The composer concedes that player 3 could play the passage on glockenspiel without issue and the extra crotales are unnecessary.
Player 3 needs a marimba, but how large? He finds the part fits on a 4.3 octave (low A) instrument with the exception of two low D’s. The 5- octave instrument required for these low D’s takes up a lot more room than a 4.3 octave instrument.
These notes are doubled by the celli and bass clarinet, so the composer decides to notate an ossia octave- up transposition for those two notes in case the performers cannot fit a five- octave marimba on stage.
There is hardly a difference between a “tenor drum” and a concert “tom- tom.” The percussionist checks to see if player 3’s tenor drum music could possibly be played on player 2’s tom- toms. It works logistically, but is the distinction between tenor drum and tom- tom really necessary? The composer agrees it is unnecessary, and player 3 can play the tenor drum music on the tom- toms. He recommends the composer specify this in the instrument list.
Looking further, the percussionist notices that although player 2’s list requests four tom- toms, only two are ever used in the piece!
The indication “gong” in player 1’s list is ambiguous. The word gong is like drum in that it requires further specification. Should this be a nipple gong? The composer clarifies he meant “tam- tam.”
After the consultation, the clearer, more accurate, and tighter instrument list is:
timpani
percussion 1: crotales, snare drum, crash cymbals, guiro, tam- tam
percussion 2: xylophone, vibraphone, 2 tom- toms (shared with player 3), hi- hat, slapstick
percussion 3: glockenspiel, marimba (5- octave preferred), 2 tom- toms (shared with player 2), bass drum, 2 suspended cymbals
Inexpensive Instruments
Most percussion instruments must be manufactured by professional instrument makers, but some can be easily found or constructed by lay people. The following instruments cost little to no money to acquire and therefore may easily be requested in large numbers.
sandpaper blocks stones
tin cans bottles rute
wooden planks slapstick
Exotic Instruments
If an especially rare instrument is requested, it is possible that one will not be acquired in time for the concert. In this case, the composer should plan to provide the instrument or let the performers use a substitute instrument. A description of the sound of the instrument (written in the score) will help the performer find an appropriate substitute (e.g., “The Southwest Siberian xiboxia has a high, bright, and metallic sound with a metallic buzz and a short decay”). Or the composer could sug-gest a specific substitute for the instrument (e.g., “If a B♭ hubcap is not available, a B♭
nipple gong may be used”).
Electronic Percussion
Synthesized and sampled percussion sounds are not an effective replacement for acoustic sounds— these tools are usually best used for invented or altered sounds. The equipment needed is often expensive or hard to find, and setup is time- consuming, with computer crashes, cable failures, and feedback as just a few of the many things that can go wrong.
When used with care and expertise, however, synthesized and sampled per-cussion can effectively be used alone or alongside acoustic perper-cussion (see John Adams’s Death of Klinghoffer). A percussionist may have an electronic MIDI con-troller, such as an Octapad, DrumKat, or MalletKat, within a setup of acoustic
instruments. Regular keyboard synthesizers are oftentimes more practical than the percussion MIDI controllers listed above, however, because they are more widely available.
With MIDI percussion controllers, sound will be consistent no matter what beater strikes the pad, so mallet changes are unnecessary. These controllers take up very little space in a setup; an acoustic sound that could require a very large instrument or group of very large instruments can be replaced by a compact drum pad. The sounds produced can be changed during a piece, so one small MIDI drum pad or keyboard can produce hundreds of different sounds that would normally require a stage full of instruments and a stage full of percussionists. For this reason, MIDI controllers are popular in Broadway pits, where space is often tight.
Even in the best of circumstances, if electronics are involved, generous dress rehearsal time should be allotted to get everything set up and working correctly.
Multiple Options for a Specified Instrument
Just as different mallets are used to get different colors on the same instru-ment, percussionists often use more than one of the same instrument for differ-ent dynamics, pitches, or orchestrations. For example, for a suspended cymbal part, a percussionist may use two or three cymbals: a medium- size, thin, dark- sounding cymbal for soft notes; a smaller, thicker, bright- sounding instrument for loud choked notes; and a very large cymbal for loud sweeping rolls. Multiple snare drums are also sometimes used for involved parts: a bright, loud, dry metal shell drum for loud articulate passages with the brass and a smaller drum with wire snares for soft rolls.
Other times a percussionist will be forced to use multiple instruments because one instrument is incapable of meeting all the requirements for the part. If loud and soft passages are written for a ratchet, then two different ratchets might be used. If both very loud passages and very articulate pianissimo passages are written for shaker, then two shakers might be used.
The use of extra instruments will usually be determined by the performer, but indications in the part by the composer (after the part has been worked out by a per-former) may be appropriate.
Instruments Percussionists May Not Play
There are an enormous number of instruments in the percussion family, many of which most percussionists do not study. Percussionists are frequently required to learn new instruments and can easily do so by applying techniques from commonly studied instruments. In some cases, however, it is not so easy.
Cimbalom
Few percussionists study cimbalom. A composer should only write for cimbalom if it is known that there is someone who plays and has access to this instrument.