Rockbox

“Rockbox” is a piece with a purpose: as explained in the program notes, it brings together Bach and disco in the pursuit of developing students’ left-hand technique. As such, the under-three-minute piece is a quick romp that might find itself equally at home on a young percussion ensemble concert or in the parking lot as part of a front ensemble warm-up routine.

Maintaining good balance will be a challenge for young percussionists, as the temptation to overplay the drum set and timpani parts will be high, but the focus really should remain with the keyboards (particularly the first two marimba parts, which carry the bulk of the melodic content borrowed from Bach).

“Rockbox” is fun and quirky, and is self-aware enough to know when it’s time to move on or else be done. If more advanced students were involved, I could easily envision an opportunity to expand on certain sections’ harmonic changes and create space for improvisation. Otherwise, the piece is concise and effective while allowing a bit of subversive joyfulness to infect the process of technical development.

—Brian Graiser
Percussive Notes
Vol. 61, No. 5, October 2023