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Brian Slawson’s Angels in the Moonlight takes its influences from two well known pieces, the traditional French hymn Angels We Have Heard On High and Beethoven’s immortal Moonlight Sonata. By choosing these two contrasting works as his wellspring, Slawson is able to create different moods throughout the piece making it an extremely engaging piece, perfect for any holiday themed concert.
This piece comes as a professionally printed and bound score and includes individual parts in PDF format for printing or for tablet viewing.
• Glockenspiel
• Chimes
• Xylophone
• Vibraphone
• 1 Marimba—low A
• 2 Timpani
• Drums (concert bass drum w/ cymbal attachment)
• Cymbals & gongs (crash cymbals)
• Accessories (triangle, sleigh bells, bell tree, vibraslap, finger cymbals)
“Angels in the Moonlight” is a nice inter- mediate percussion ensemble piece reminiscent of a drum corps ballade. While it calls for a large number of players, the instruments used are those common to a school’s standard percussion inventory. The themes are simple and catchy, and the texture is well balanced.
The parts are often repetitive, but they require a good sense of time and rhythmic steadiness, particularly from the timpanist. The rhythms alternate between duple and triple, sometimes creating polyrhythms between the parts. It’s possible that an ensemble with excellent listening and ensemble playing skills could do this piece without a conductor, but taking into account tempo changes, it will likely need to be conducted. The non-melodic instruments are used effectively for color and emphasis and would be a good assignment for newer players who aren’t ready for the harder mallet and timpani parts yet.
At 41⁄2 minutes, this piece would be a good addition to an advanced middle school or intermediate high school percussion ensemble concert.
—Marilyn K. Clark Silva
Percussive Notes
Vol. 57, No. 3, July 2019
Brian Slawson’s Angels in the Moonlight takes its influences from two well known pieces, the traditional French hymn Angels We Have Heard On High and Beethoven’s immortal Moonlight Sonata. By choosing these two contrasting works as his wellspring, Slawson is able to create different moods throughout the piece making it an extremely engaging piece, perfect for any holiday themed concert.
This piece comes as a professionally printed and bound score and includes individual parts in PDF format for printing or for tablet viewing.
• Glockenspiel
• Chimes
• Xylophone
• Vibraphone
• 1 Marimba—low A
• 2 Timpani
• Drums (concert bass drum w/ cymbal attachment)
• Cymbals & gongs (crash cymbals)
• Accessories (triangle, sleigh bells, bell tree, vibraslap, finger cymbals)
“Angels in the Moonlight” is a nice inter- mediate percussion ensemble piece reminiscent of a drum corps ballade. While it calls for a large number of players, the instruments used are those common to a school’s standard percussion inventory. The themes are simple and catchy, and the texture is well balanced.
The parts are often repetitive, but they require a good sense of time and rhythmic steadiness, particularly from the timpanist. The rhythms alternate between duple and triple, sometimes creating polyrhythms between the parts. It’s possible that an ensemble with excellent listening and ensemble playing skills could do this piece without a conductor, but taking into account tempo changes, it will likely need to be conducted. The non-melodic instruments are used effectively for color and emphasis and would be a good assignment for newer players who aren’t ready for the harder mallet and timpani parts yet.
At 41⁄2 minutes, this piece would be a good addition to an advanced middle school or intermediate high school percussion ensemble concert.
—Marilyn K. Clark Silva
Percussive Notes
Vol. 57, No. 3, July 2019
