Re: writing percussion notes

[Sarah k Alawami]

Hey thanks for the help all of you have given. I'm writing the timpani notes as if they are regular music. I tried a new staff but that failed, probably my error lol! I read about the \drums thing but I don't quite understand how it will work after the percussionMusic equals \relative c then the key then timpani time sig and so forth. I understand the abbreviations for high hat and snare and such and to write them as if they were music with the values, but where do I put them since they will be resting through out most of the piece. Do I have to use the voiceOne voiceTwo etc etc to do this and just make sure I aline everything so I don't have misaligned measures? lol!

Take care and be blessed.

On May 8, 2013, at 6:04 AM, Carl Peterson <address@hidden> wrote:

On Wed, May 8, 2013 at 8:54 AM, D'Arcy J.M. Cain <address@hidden> wrote:

On Wed, 8 May 2013 08:38:44 -0400
Carl Peterson <address@hidden> wrote:
> The end result would be two staves without grouping, one for timpani
> and another for the bass/snare.

I think you are correct except that the OP said;

> > Ok. I'v never seen percussion music so I don't even know how to
> > looks. I have to in this final assignment write for 3 timpani's, 1
> > player playing them, a bass drum and symbol, one player playing
> > them and a snare.

So I think three staves if I read that right.  One for the timpani, one
for the bass drum and cymbal (not symbol, btw) and a separate one for
the snare.

Sorry, missed that...may have been the symbol vs. cymbal, but anyway... 

It does seem like a strange setup.  At first I though marching band
but marching bands have one timpani per player don't they?

With marching bands it depends (I think) on the performance venue. Virtually all of my experience with marching band is field performance (such as a sports venue), where the timpani will be placed at one side of the field and played in concert setting along with keyboards, gong, chimes, etc., and the timpani will be played by a single performer (who may be doing other things, depending on how much the timpani are used). Typically when these bands parade, they leave the timpani home. I think I've read of parade bands that use timpani with one performer per drum.

It's only a strange arrangement to me in that I would have probably paired the snare and cymbal (depending on whether the cymbal is intended to be played ride or crash), but ultimately in percussion the assignment of instruments depends on which ones are being used simultaneously. In a Sousa march, you would probably need three percussionists because each instrument is used a lot and simultaneously. Many pieces may suffice with just one.