Greetings from our little corner of the world! 

As cliché as it is to say, “We hope you’re doing well in these unprecedented/uncertain/crazy times in which we live,” we really honestly do. We here at Tapspace HQ have fared well, all things considered, and are grateful for the opportunity to continue working and doing what we do best – releasing great music for all of you in percussion education.

We are thinking of all of you in the teaching community, about your concerns and struggles amidst the pandemic. You are to be applauded for the myriad ways in which you continue to rise to the challenge of keeping students engaged in music and percussion.

Likewise, for students. Has it ever been harder to be a student than it is right now? Your dedication to continue to strive for yourselves and become better players and future teachers is to be commended.  

In that spirit, we wanted to inform you that we have created a special COVID-19 filter on our website that we hope will serve you as you think about your upcoming challenges in the fall.

We have combed through our entire catalog and highlighted the pieces that satisfy the following COVID-era requirements:

While the world shelters in place during the COVID-19 crisis, we are making the popular daily drill methods Five Minute Drill and Nine Minute Drill available online to users who already own the book(s). One of the main benefits from these methods is that students hit them a little bit EVERY DAY. So during these uncertain times of sheltering in place, we want students to continue benefiting from them.

If you are a current user of one of these books, please contact us with your proof of purchase (a receipt, or casual photo of your book will suffice) and request access. We’ll then provide you with information on how you can access these online versions.

New purchases of either of these books from tapspace.com will automatically include online access instructions.

We are still in business during this challenging time. For more information on how we’re operating, click here.

Stay safe, and keep practicing!

During these uncertain times, we are taking measures to scale back our operation and take precautions toward the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Following state-mandated social distance guidelines, we are still fulfilling shipments from our office in Portland, Oregon. We will continue to operate in this manner as long as the US Postal Service and UPS remain functional and so long as it is safe for our staff to continue to do so.

Contacting Us:
We will continue to provide the service you’ve come to expect from us, albeit more remotely. Please contact us online rather than via our office phone. Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

International Shipments:
For the time-being, we will not be making international, non-US shipments from Tapspace.com. The majority of our catalog is available in downloadable PDF format, so we recommend purchasing your music that way if possible. We also encourage you to check with one of our dealers who may be able to more quickly provide your shipment.

We’re headed to the San Antonio for the Texas Music Educator’s Association (TMEA) convention next week! It’s one of our favorite places to witness the power of music education, eat some great Tex-Mex, and visit with some great people in the Lone Star state.

Through the University Interscholastic League (UIL), Texas has an influential list of prescribed music titles for solo and ensemble events. We’re honored to have a large portion of our catalog sanctioned on this list! Download a complete listing of all Tapspace titles on the UIL list, organized by event, grade, and UIL code.

While composing in a notation program like Finale or Sibelius is a quick way to get your music in front of players, there are a number of scenarios when it is necessary to use Virtual Drumline within a sequencer such as Logic, Cubase, or Digital Performer. Some of these situations might include:

Over the years, our onscreen tutorial Virtual Drumline Demystified has helped countless VDL users on the road to mastering it within Finale and Sibelius. Another thing that has occurred over the years is that software has continued to evolve, making the onscreen examples in VDL Demystified appear a bit dated. VDL expert, and founder of Visaudio Designs, Bryan Harmsen, did a fantastic job in presenting these lessons in a friendly, progressive manner. Bryan is a good friend of ours and subjecting him to ongoing rounds of endless video shooting and editing to stay current with frequent OS and applications updates isn’t feasible.

As such, we’ve decided to take this product off the market and make it available for free. While the older versions of Sibelius, Finale, and Kontakt won’t look entirely current, the main theories will still apply. We’ve removed a couple lessons in which outdated methods of installing template files was no longer relevant and would create more confusion than assistance.

IN THIS ISSUE: New Ensembles: Schnabel (Robert Sanderl), Three Scenes from the Desert (Alex Stopa), New Solos: Danny Boy (Traditional; arr. Brian Mueller), Impromptu No. 3 (Schubert; arr. August Pappas), Tristesse (Chopin; arr. Benjamin Holmes), New Books: The Golden Age of Ragtime (Ralph Hicks & Eric Rath), Sequential Studies-Level 1 (Julia Gaines), Nine Minute Drill (Hicks/Rath), VDL Tips: Impose Sketch onto Template, Zero-G (Roger Carter).

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IN THIS ISSUE: Tapspace at 2018 TMEA, New Books: Nine Minute Drill (Ralph Hicks & Eric Rath), Sequential Studies for Four-Mallet Marimba – Level 1 (Julia Gaines), Scores for Festivals.

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