More images

Click to enlarge

Purchase

Funky Fugue for Five (Download)

for percussion ensemble
Level: Easy
Duration: 3:15
Personnel: 4-5 players
State Lists: Wisconsin
Release Date: 2016
Product ID : TSPCE16-018DL
Price: $32.00
Item #: TSPCE16-018DL

Formats Available:


Description

Fun and furious, fantastic and forward, Funky Fugue for Five fashions friendly rhythms into a festive foray for four or five fledgling friends to fire funky feels at fans while furthering their feel of the fugue. 

Veteran percussion composer Alan Keown is no stranger to effective music education. With  minimal non-pitched instrumentation and very basic rhythmic language, Keown’s piece provides a setting in which beginners create contrapuntal and engaging musical experience. It also introduces them to basic fugal concepts such as subject, canon, and development. Ideally written for five players, it can also be played by four by removing the optional timpani part.

Find a fast favorite for festivals in Funky Fugue for Five!

Use of this product is governed by the license terms outlined here.

Instrumentation

  • 2 snare drums (high and low)
  • 2 concert toms (high)
  • 2 concert toms (low)
  • 2 timpani

Reviews

“Funky Fugue for Five” is an entry-level piece for percussion ensemble requiring minimal instrumentation. Duration of a performance should be around three minutes, and it will require four or five players (the timpani part is optional). The two snare drummers must play rolls in the introduction to the piece, earning the work a diffculty rating of II rather than I. Other than the rolls, no rudiments are required (just alternating single strokes).

The tempo is 120 bpm throughout. Material is presented in mostly eight-bar phrases, with the form outlined by a rehearsal letter every section. Developmental ideas are simple and rather straightforward, with the fugal subject offset by either two beats or one measure, and the use of rhythmic augmentation. The longest phrase of the development section requires performers to play sixteenth-note figures on the rim with interjections on the snare drum in a “quasi-drumset” manner. My personal recommendation would be for teachers/directors to use all five parts if possible, as the timpani part adds some rhythmic tension to what is otherwise very simple counterpoint. 

Pieces like this are often used to teach rudimentary musical principles and reading, ensemble timekeeping, and form. I’m not convinced “Funky Fugue for Five” adds anything to the genre not already represented by dozens of other beginning ensemble pieces, but it is simple enough to be played early in the first year of instruction, even in classrooms with a very limited instrument inventory. 

—Phillip O’Banion
Percussive Notes
Vol. 55, No. 2, May 2017

Description

Fun and furious, fantastic and forward, Funky Fugue for Five fashions friendly rhythms into a festive foray for four or five fledgling friends to fire funky feels at fans while furthering their feel of the fugue. 

Veteran percussion composer Alan Keown is no stranger to effective music education. With  minimal non-pitched instrumentation and very basic rhythmic language, Keown’s piece provides a setting in which beginners create contrapuntal and engaging musical experience. It also introduces them to basic fugal concepts such as subject, canon, and development. Ideally written for five players, it can also be played by four by removing the optional timpani part.

Find a fast favorite for festivals in Funky Fugue for Five!

Use of this product is governed by the license terms outlined here.

Instrumentation

  • 2 snare drums (high and low)
  • 2 concert toms (high)
  • 2 concert toms (low)
  • 2 timpani

Reviews

“Funky Fugue for Five” is an entry-level piece for percussion ensemble requiring minimal instrumentation. Duration of a performance should be around three minutes, and it will require four or five players (the timpani part is optional). The two snare drummers must play rolls in the introduction to the piece, earning the work a diffculty rating of II rather than I. Other than the rolls, no rudiments are required (just alternating single strokes).

The tempo is 120 bpm throughout. Material is presented in mostly eight-bar phrases, with the form outlined by a rehearsal letter every section. Developmental ideas are simple and rather straightforward, with the fugal subject offset by either two beats or one measure, and the use of rhythmic augmentation. The longest phrase of the development section requires performers to play sixteenth-note figures on the rim with interjections on the snare drum in a “quasi-drumset” manner. My personal recommendation would be for teachers/directors to use all five parts if possible, as the timpani part adds some rhythmic tension to what is otherwise very simple counterpoint. 

Pieces like this are often used to teach rudimentary musical principles and reading, ensemble timekeeping, and form. I’m not convinced “Funky Fugue for Five” adds anything to the genre not already represented by dozens of other beginning ensemble pieces, but it is simple enough to be played early in the first year of instruction, even in classrooms with a very limited instrument inventory. 

—Phillip O’Banion
Percussive Notes
Vol. 55, No. 2, May 2017



You may also like...

A percussion ensemble and piano arrangement of one of the most famous pieces for concert band.
Duration: 2:20 | Level: Med-Easy | Personnel: 7-9 players
$35.00
Two contrasting movements for percussion ensemble, with opportunities for performers to improvise.
Duration: 4:20 total | Level: Medium | Personnel: 9 players
$40.00
An exciting and intense percussion quintet for budding percussionists to hone their individual and ensemble playing skills.
Duration: 2:00 | Level: Medium | Personnel: 5 players
$33.00
Written for percussion ensemble and solo flute, Clockwork plays on the timbral characteristics found in different types of clocks.
Duration: 2:20 | Level: Med-Easy | Personnel: 10 players
$35.00
#TAPSPACE