Tag Archives: 6/8

Conrads Hat

This drum score was written for a tune composed by Michael Grey called Conrads Hat. It’s named after the hat of a german piper. The tune has a very distinct ending frase which is also noticed in the drum score.

The level of the drum score is meant to fit intermediate level drummers with some knowledge of playing jigs yet it leaves a fed challenging bits such as Continue reading →

Three In A Row

This score of the week was written back in 2003 for a 4-parted 6/8 jig written by Bernard Bouhadana, now PM of Balagan. The piping music for this lovely jig and other great compositions can be found in the tune book Northern Lights Book One – which can be purchased here or you can of course contact Bernard directly and ask him for the piping music. I wrote a drum score for this tune, because I really like the tune – it’s so melodic and lyrical as if it tells a story. I find it to be a less ordinary jig with a few nice twists which are nice for a drummer to jam to – for example the Continue reading →

Mrs Lily Christie

The drum score of this week was written for a grade 4 drummer who was looking for something specific to play to a 6/8 march, that wasn’t “just” the standard 6/8 drum score. Yet, it was important that it’s not too difficult to play as this was one of his early experiences with the 6/8 march idiom. There’s a few movements in there which can be tricky for beginners, such as Continue reading →

Hønsefødder og Gulerødder

This drum score was written back in 2008 to be part of a set of traditional Danish folk tunes. It ended up being slightly modified and used as the ending tune and drum score of a grade 4 band medley. In the Danish set it would typically follow a slow air called “Den gamle skærslippers forårssang” and a march “En yndig og frydefuld sommertid” (the drum score for this one can be found in the archive). The level of the drum score was made to fit beginner drummers as it would often be something the band would play at gigs or during concerts. Notice that each part is not repeated – however it sounds nice when played through the entire tune twice. It works very effective for the overall presentation with a drumming break in part 1 when repeating the tune, and with a nice drum layering uptake to part 2. One thing that can also make this rather easy jig drum score work very nicely is, if you keep the Continue reading →

Steamboat

This drum score was written in 2008 for a grade 4 band who wanted to give it a go with a different 6/8 than the standard 6/8 drum score for the tune Steamboat. The score was written for experienced drummers already knowing about accented rolls and drag movements. The key to succes with the drum score is Continue reading →

Blustering Home

Inspired by the judges recital at this years Copenhagen Winter Competition, the drum score of this week is a drum score written for Michael Grey’s tune Blustering Home. Michael Grey played it at the recital, and I immediately recalled the first time I heard the tune. The first time I heard the tune was in 1999 at the dorms around Strathclyde University in the week leading up to the World Pipe Band Championships.  Peel Regional Police Pipe Band from Canada, led by Michael Grey and Jeremy Keddy, played it as an opener to their medley. I remember very clearly how fascinated and excited I was (and still am) about this 6/8-9/8-12/8 type march. I think the tune is very bright and has an uplifting feel to it.

Ten years later, in 2009,  I wrote a drum score for the tune to be played by an experienced grade 4 drum corp. The technical level of the drum score is not to challenging, however some of the single runs in there would require some repetition and exercise. The most difficult pattern in the drum score is probably Continue reading →

Banjo Breakdown

A new year – 2016 – and a new shared drum score of the week is up. This time it’s for a 4-parted jig for the experienced drummer, looking for a challenge. The drum score was written over this last month for a local Danish grade 4 band with an experienced drum corp. I think the tune was challenging to write a drum score for, because of the Continue reading →

Glasgow Police Pipers

The last score of the week of November is a beginner drum score for the 4 parted jig Glasgow Police Pipers. The score was written for a drum corp that has never before played jig. This is hopefully reflected in the drum score, in the way that there’s a lot of eight notes (as in the tune) and also the score is written to be without too many technical challenges. Yet, there’s some challenges in Continue reading →

Out of the air

This weeks score of the week was written only one week ago. The drum score was written for a grade 4B drum corp of drummers who hasn’t played a jig drum score before as a corp and where each individual player has very little or no experience playing jigs. The drum corp consist of players of different levels, but all on a somewhat beginner level, who doesn’t always get to play all together at once.

The idea of the drum score was to make an easy score, to introduce the 6/8 jig feel and idiom without making each player worry too much about the technical aspect. However, there is a few tough Continue reading →

6/8 March

This weeks drum score was written back in 2010 – and inspired by all of the different impression I’d gotten from playing in various bands and listening to so many great bands. It was written as a warm up drum score for the Balagan drum corp. This score could also be played by the experienced drummer in a solo competition, as for example Copenhagen Winter Competition which is now up and running again. In Balagan we ended up playing it to the piping tune Continue reading →

Rocking The Baby

The theme of the shared scores of the week of August will be 2 parted drum scores suitable for both grade 4b and 4a medleys. This first one was written for grade 4 band in Denmark back in 2008. It was written to fit the level of drummers who had not play other stuff than the standard marches. The challenge here was to make a score that wasn’t too difficult yet still had some stuff in there to work on. Therefore I introduced the Continue reading →

McGuires Jig

Since I failed to upload a drum score last week – I’ll be sharing two drum scores this week.

This last drum score of July (yes, I know it’s now August), is following the theme of July – 4 parted competition type drum scores – is a one of my first drum scores I wrote. It was written back in 1999 to play in a medley with Holbæk Pipe Band and is presented on the CD “Debut” of the same band. Since writing it I brought it to Piping Hot Summer Drummer as part of my drumming gear – scores, sticks, pads and all. I had the chance there to get some help, tips and inspiration from J. Reid Maxwell with the score about places in there, that I wasn’t really pleased with. It was a really great experience. Since then I’ve often used other drummers (and pipers) opinion about drum scores and ensemble when writing a drum score. Especially the 4th part was spiced up a bit from the original version in for example Continue reading →

Donald McLeod

This weeks drum score was written back in 2011 for a Danish drummer to compete in the advanced HJ competition at Copenhagen Winter Competition. The score follows the structure of the tune – repeating the 3rd & 4th bar of the parts 1&3 and 2&4. For the ending I thought of a few different options but ended up with this rather fancy run of Continue reading →

Drew James MacIntosh

A new month – a new theme. 4 parted drum scores suitable for solo competitions.

This first score of july was written in 2009 for the Balagan concerts. After a nice slow air, we played the jig twice – second time through we added guitar, bass and drum kit. A very nice opener to the concert. This drum score was written to fit the tune nicely, yet still provide the drive to the overall presentation of the pipe band. A good example of this is Continue reading →

A Dram Before You Go

This two parted jig followed last weeks jig in a medley of a Scottish grade 3A band. This drum score was written to make a nice flow with the melody as well as being easy to control and memorize.  There’s quite a few short roll movements in there that could be opened up to spice up the drum score or to simply challenge yourself in playing swiss-ruffs instead of rolls. When arranging the drum corp with a piper from the pipe corp, he (the piper) came up with idea of Continue reading →