Nañigo Navidad (Download)

for percussion ensemble

Brian Slawson

Level: Medium

Duration: 3:15

Personnel: 11 Players

State Lists: Florida

Release Date: 2021

Product ID : TSPCE21-013DL

Price: $35.00

Item #: TSPCE21-013DL

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Description

Brian Slawson’s large percussion ensemble piece Nañigo Navidad combines the melodies of traditional holiday carols with rhythms of Afro-Cuban music. We Three Kings and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen are brilliantly interwoven throughout the piece all while being supported by a large array of auxiliary instrument percussion instruments playing an infectious 12/8 groove. As the piece develops and players feel more comfortable, they are encouraged to add tasteful fills all while maintaining the proper feel and groove. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, this piece is sure to make spirits bright during any holiday concert!

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Instrumentation

• Crotales (lower octave)

• Glockenspiel

• Chimes

• Xylophone

• Vibraphone

• Marimba—(low A, shared)

• 4 timpani

• Drums (bongos, concert bass drum)

• Cymbals & gongs (2 suspended cymbals, tam-tam)

• Accessories (finger cymbals, 2 tuned gongs (A3 & C4), jam block)

• Drumset

Reviews

Written for large percussion ensemble, “Nañigo Navidad” is a three-minute work that features two traditional Christmas carols, “We Three Kings” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” in musical fusion with the Afro-Cuban nañigo rhythm. This single-movement piece begins with a stately introduction drawn from Handel’s “Organ Concerto No. 10 in D minor Op.7 No.4,” which quickly evolves into a driving nañigo that binds the two carols together.

Brian Slawson finds the pocket within each of the traditional tunes in a way that fits comfortably with the nañigo, making this a piece that percussion students and their audiences will easily be drawn to. He has created a piece that can fit a variety of music programs by offering instrument substitutions and opportunities for subtle improvisation for the drum and drum set parts. The large instrumentation and approachable parts are fitting for intermediate players and would work well as a percussion feature on a winter holiday concert.

—Quintin Mallette
Percussive Notes
Vol. 60, No. 1, February 2022