Mr. Adamson's Monkey was the sixty-second warm-up of the 1999 world-champion Santa Clara Vanguard
drumline. Tired of check patterns and grids? Longing for some tough rudimental
music that will test your expression as well as your chops? Then this one's
for you! Much more than just another "ram" warm-up, this piece explores rhythms
that twist-and-turn in every measure. With extreme details in dynamics phrasing
and various sound colors, Mr. Adamson's Monkey is sure to challenge
you to a new way of listening to drumline music!
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parts, licensed for one ensemble to perform). Both versions also include an
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“This 60-second warm-up used by the Santa Clara Vanguard is somewhat revolutionary, not just due to its rhythmic complexity, but for its exploration of an aspect of musical expression not easily achieved in the drum line medium. As the performance notes state: "Typically, ensemble battery music must be clearly associated with a sub-divided metronomic pulse for purposes of clarity. In these cases that is not so, and the reference point may be the half note or the whole note. Time is maintained but the rhythms inside those large phrases can be bent. This requires that the players approach these figures as an ensemble of instrumentalists, rather than a Drum Line. This is very liberating."
The goal here seems to be the ability to flex as a group - to allow some ebb and flow in the time while still maintaining the group-precision characteristic of drum corps. This is achieved through the use of asymmetrical rhythmic phrasing and complex odd-note groupings.
This material is not for the typical high school or even college marching percussion section. The rhythmic sophistication is more like Zappa's "The Black Page" than any standard warm-up. But it reflects the continuing trend toward musical sensitivity in a medium that for too long has been unfairly associated with the label of mere regimentation. Those days are long gone, and "Mr. Adamson's Monkey" proves it.”
