Santa's Strut

for percussion ensemble

Brian Slawson

Level: Easy

Duration: 2:30

Personnel: 10-11

State Lists: Florida

Release Date: 2021

Product ID : TSPCE21-012

Price: $33.00

Item #: TSPCE21-012

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Description

In Santa’s Strut, Brian Slawson combines a funky drumset beat and blues-like melodies to form an easy level percussion ensemble piece that’s perfect for a holiday-themed concert requiring minimal rehearsal time.

After a brief introduction, the central section of the piece features the mallet instruments playing melodies based on a blues scale, which are contained in a 12-bar blues. These melodies are supported by a lot of fun, toy-like percussion accessories in the background such as sleigh bells, ratchet, temple blocks, vibraslap, and a whip crack. These are important musical concepts to introduce to young performers and Slawson does this in an accessible and fun way.

Santa’s Strut comes as a professionally printed and bound score and includes individual parts in PDF format for printing or for tablet viewing.

Instrumentation

• Glockenspiel

• Chimes

• Xylophone

• Vibraphone

• 2 marimbas—(1) 4-octave, (1) low A

• 2 timpani (26" & 29")

• Drumset

• Accessories (ratchet, whip crack, brake drum, temple/wood blocks, sleigh bells, ribbon crasher, vibraslap, bell tree)

Reviews

“Santa’s Strut” is a refreshingly new holiday tune that is sure to get toes tapping in the audience! It isn’t always easy to find a piece that is accessible to young performers as well as engaging to their musical tastes. “Santa’s Strut” has both of these sought-after qualities. A variety of instruments is called for, but they are all fairly standard to any American middle or high school band room.

Based on a 12-bar blues idea, “Santa’s Strut” definitely has the “cool” factor for students, while teaching them important musical concepts, such as performing with others, playing music with contrasting sections, and the concept of soli parts. I especially appreciate the soli sections, as they feature all of the parts of the ensemble without singling out any one performer.

This is the perfect piece to engage young percussionists and help them feel like they are performing more advanced repertoire without adding to their stress levels as new performers. Highly recommended for the holidays or a fun “Christmas in July” concert!

—Cassie Bunting
Percussive Notes
Vol. 60, No. 1, February 2022