Cart is empty
Tank Time by Brian Slawson is a fun and entertaining introduction to counting and playing triplets for a beginning ensemble. It also requires a full range of dynamics while keeping a steady beat.
It requires 9–10 players (the hand cymbals and bass drum parts may be covered by a single player if a bass drum/cymbal attachment is available). Two of the three marimba parts are shared on a single 4.3-octave (low A) instrument. The timpani part only requires two drums.
Tank Time ships as a fully bound score and includes individual parts in PDF format for either printing or tablet viewing.
Chimes
Xylophone
2 Marimbas — (1) 4-octave, (1) low A
2 Timpani (29” and 26”)
Percussion — concert snare drum or field drum, tenor drum or tom-tom, concert bass drum, hand cymbals*, tam-tam
*may use bass drum/cymbal attachment to cover BD and cymbals with one player
For maximum success, young musicians need new concepts introduced to them in a steady, methodical, and logical fashion throughout their educational journey. Following that pedagogical framework, this 21⁄2-minute piece for beginning percussionists was written as an introduction to counting and playing triplets, and does it very well.
With a healthy balance of drums and mallet instruments, Brian Slawson wrote this piece as a steady buildup of volume and texture. Starting out with one drum playing a soft and simple triplet-based pattern, the music progresses in instrumentation and complexity as a snare drum is added, then a marimba, then timpani, and so on.
Harmonically, most of the piece resides in D minor and the dominant A major, and presents an effective unrolling of musical depth as the mallet parts eventually move from single-line parts to double-mallet presentations with effective harmony. Rhythmically, the parts stay relatively consistent with the exception of the Marimba 2 part, which adds an actively melodic layer towards the end of the piece. From a pedagogical perspective, there are parts that satisfy multiple levels of ability, which works well for a typical school classroom situation with a diverse group of students and experience levels.
—Joshua D. Smith
Percussive Notes
Vol. 62, No. 4, August 2024
Tank Time by Brian Slawson is a fun and entertaining introduction to counting and playing triplets for a beginning ensemble. It also requires a full range of dynamics while keeping a steady beat.
It requires 9–10 players (the hand cymbals and bass drum parts may be covered by a single player if a bass drum/cymbal attachment is available). Two of the three marimba parts are shared on a single 4.3-octave (low A) instrument. The timpani part only requires two drums.
Tank Time ships as a fully bound score and includes individual parts in PDF format for either printing or tablet viewing.
Chimes
Xylophone
2 Marimbas — (1) 4-octave, (1) low A
2 Timpani (29” and 26”)
Percussion — concert snare drum or field drum, tenor drum or tom-tom, concert bass drum, hand cymbals*, tam-tam
*may use bass drum/cymbal attachment to cover BD and cymbals with one player
For maximum success, young musicians need new concepts introduced to them in a steady, methodical, and logical fashion throughout their educational journey. Following that pedagogical framework, this 21⁄2-minute piece for beginning percussionists was written as an introduction to counting and playing triplets, and does it very well.
With a healthy balance of drums and mallet instruments, Brian Slawson wrote this piece as a steady buildup of volume and texture. Starting out with one drum playing a soft and simple triplet-based pattern, the music progresses in instrumentation and complexity as a snare drum is added, then a marimba, then timpani, and so on.
Harmonically, most of the piece resides in D minor and the dominant A major, and presents an effective unrolling of musical depth as the mallet parts eventually move from single-line parts to double-mallet presentations with effective harmony. Rhythmically, the parts stay relatively consistent with the exception of the Marimba 2 part, which adds an actively melodic layer towards the end of the piece. From a pedagogical perspective, there are parts that satisfy multiple levels of ability, which works well for a typical school classroom situation with a diverse group of students and experience levels.
—Joshua D. Smith
Percussive Notes
Vol. 62, No. 4, August 2024
