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At the core of Escape Artist is a funky groove. From this groove, younger students will have the opportunity to hone their timing skills along with rhythmic accuracy playing the four most common 16th-note subdivisions of three notes. Eric Rath has done an outstanding job of composing a simple piece that's not only educational, but a lot of fun to play and accessible to audiences!
This piece was extracted from the larger compilation book, Beyond Basic Percussion. Co-written by Eric Rath and Ralph Hicks it contains 10 ensembles from which beginning percussion students can learn. Also helpful is the fact that this piece is flexible in its instrumentation. If you don't have the full arsenal of players or equipment, some parts have been denoted as optional.
Eric Rath’s program notes clearly lay out his pedagogical vision behind this piece. The beauty in his approach is that there are several topics to be addressed within this short composition of approximately two and a half minutes. Two of my favorite aspects of this work are the focus on sixteenth-note groupings and the use of trap tables. Not only do these elements promote various educational concepts, they also help to create an appealing listening experience for the audience. The syncopation combined with the timbral variety makes for a catchy composition.
The instructions and notation are very clear and will benefit all performers involved. These include moving to the edge of the drum while playing snare drum, muffled versus open triangle performance, directions for moving to a new instrument, and more. Requiring six to seven players, this composition will fit nicely on a junior high school percussion ensemble program.
—Darin Olson
Percussive Notes
Vol. 53, No. 3, July 2015
At the core of Escape Artist is a funky groove. From this groove, younger students will have the opportunity to hone their timing skills along with rhythmic accuracy playing the four most common 16th-note subdivisions of three notes. Eric Rath has done an outstanding job of composing a simple piece that's not only educational, but a lot of fun to play and accessible to audiences!
This piece was extracted from the larger compilation book, Beyond Basic Percussion. Co-written by Eric Rath and Ralph Hicks it contains 10 ensembles from which beginning percussion students can learn. Also helpful is the fact that this piece is flexible in its instrumentation. If you don't have the full arsenal of players or equipment, some parts have been denoted as optional.
Eric Rath’s program notes clearly lay out his pedagogical vision behind this piece. The beauty in his approach is that there are several topics to be addressed within this short composition of approximately two and a half minutes. Two of my favorite aspects of this work are the focus on sixteenth-note groupings and the use of trap tables. Not only do these elements promote various educational concepts, they also help to create an appealing listening experience for the audience. The syncopation combined with the timbral variety makes for a catchy composition.
The instructions and notation are very clear and will benefit all performers involved. These include moving to the edge of the drum while playing snare drum, muffled versus open triangle performance, directions for moving to a new instrument, and more. Requiring six to seven players, this composition will fit nicely on a junior high school percussion ensemble program.
—Darin Olson
Percussive Notes
Vol. 53, No. 3, July 2015
