Description
A snare drum solo for competition or recital. A study in odd meter and accents the solo’s last section in 7/8 is a real challenge. Accent This! will work on a modern field drum or on a concert snare drum. Percussive Arts Society Review: There must be thousands of published snare drum solos, and it is refreshing to find one that is unique in form, content, and expression. The solo opens in 7/8, and the tempo marking specifies the solo be performed at quarter note equaling 112. This first section takes advantage of shifting accents, but also has moments of silence. It is interesting that the composer has incorporated several meters including, 6/8, 3/4, and 4/4, as this section closes with a group of sixteenth notes and rolls. This closing burst of material creatively winds down by using sextuplets, to sixteenths, to triplets, then eighth notes, to quarter-note triplets, to single notes. The next section, or interlude, explores tone colors by changing from snares on and snares off, playing with a brush in one hand against a stick in the other, and rim shots. The rhythms are more spacious in this section as well. This material leads to a phrase of accents in triplets, then sixteenths, which have a variety of single strokes mixed with rebounds, all creating an energetic transition to the closing, which is again in 7/8. Many solos are full of technical challenges but lack the use of musical phrases or themes. This piece addresses these areas, because the composer has written this solo with excellent phrasing, plus many changing dynamics. I would like to see this solo on prescribed music lists for contests. George Frock