This weeks score of the week was used as an intro to a medley played back in 2001 by a grade 4 band of combined bands, pipers and drummers to compete at the Danish Championships same year. The drum score is based on a standard 2/4 march score, with variations to fit to the piping tune. Beneath the snare score, there’s a layout for a bass/tenor score that could be split/voiced out to multiple tenors. Arranging a drum score like this, would be a great way to Continue reading
Following last weeks 9/8 march comes another traditional 9/8 march. This weeks drum score was written to fit an intro to a medley of a grade 4 band. It was written bearing in mind that we’d have to march into a circle whilst playing it. Therefore the drum score is Continue reading
The theme of the scores for the month of May will be medley openers. Although this drum score was originally written as an intro to a march set. This 9/8 score was written to be easy to walk in to for the corps and to give a nice steady yet uplifting introduction to the march set. This tune could of course also work as an intro to a medley. Very few things has changed in the drum score since it was written back in 2006. For example we would now play Continue reading
The last advanced jig drum score this time around was written for a Danish solo drummer to compete at the Copenhagen Winter Competition. The score was written to give some challenge yet not be too difficult for a solo competition. The tune has a lot of long notes from beat to beat and can be hard to write to. I found that a good mix of Continue reading
This jig drum score was also a part of the 2008 Balagan concert medley. It was played just after the intro and was followed by Donald MacLean. In the recording attached below, you’ll hear the break into Donald MacLean. I chose to make two different endings for the the 1st part to make sort of a break in the score before entering the 2nd part. In the second part we also deicided to Continue reading
A drum score written to finish off a medley – the ending is played on the recording, but not shown in the written drum score. I’ve written a few different scores for this classic jig tune, but this version is the most complicated/challenging of them. In the 3rd part we changed the 4th bar to a more fancy version in the piping Continue reading
This weeks advanced jig drum score was written to a jig version of Cameronian Rant. Being an 8-parted jig, there’s a good opportunity to really get the jig rhythm going. Yeah. In the set this was played, the pipers played a long suite before we entered this 8-parted jig. Therefore the first line of the tune was played Continue reading
A new month – and a new theme. Jigs at the advanced level. This shared score of the week was written back in 2007 for the first Balagan concert medley. In the medley we started off with a three parted hornpipe followed by a 2-parted jig. And then as we entered this jig, we had a two bar drumming break in the first two bars of the tune. I’m not sure wether the tenors actually did played something in the break. Anyway, the recording I’ve made to go along with the score, does not include the break. For me, the highlight of the Continue reading
Finishing off this months beginner scores is a drum score for Itchy Fingers. It was written to allow everyone to play along and at the same time to be easy to memorize. Continue reading
This weeks score is for the more experienced beginner. It’s good a few more challenging movements. The drum score was written to fit after the previously shared drum score for Molly Connell – as you can probably tell from the score. One of the things that makes this score a little more challenging is the use of Continue reading
Continuing the theme of beginner scores comes another strathspey, that could be played following last weeks tune Mac An Irish. This score was written only 2 years ago for a grade 4 band medley. The aim for the level of the score was to allow everybody in the corps to play along, yet at the same time have a few challenges in there such as Continue reading
The score for this strathspey came about 10 years ago when a beginner student of mine wanted to explore strathspeys. I put together this score to allow a lot of focus on basic strathspey expression, which you can probably hear in the recording below. However I also wanted to leave a some technical challenges for him to work on and develop his technique. So I added into the score quite a lot of Continue reading
So, this one does not start with a “C”. However the score of the week this time around, also came about when we started out with Balagan back in the fall of 2007. And yes, this will be the last posting of a Balagan score for some time. The theme for the next month will be beginner scores for everyone at all levels. The idea for this hornpipe was to have a short marching tune to walk to, in and out of sets and to have an enjoyable tune to play for e.g. encore – as in the video at the end of this post. Continue reading
This weeks score of the week was played with another tune by Iain Currie – former PM of The Heather Pipes & Drums of Copenhagen. The tune Iain wrote is called Bendix A. Steckmetz – named after a Danish piper currently playing with Balagan.
This 4 parted hornpipe was played as the opener of our concerts with Balagan back in 2008. Continue reading
My first post of score of the week – let the good times roll.
All In Good Time is a tune written by Iain Currie former PM of The Heather Pipes & Drums of Copenhagen. It was part of of Jig Set that we played with Balagan at the first concerts with the group back in 2008. Continue reading