This weeks shared drum score was written all the way back in 2003 for an experienced grade 4 drum corp as far as I recall. I can clearly see from the way I wrote back then, that I was way less experienced in drum score writing, and also wrote in a totally different way than Continue reading
The beats shared this week was written for the exciting tune Hamiltons Nutsack. The first time I heard this tune, it was played by the 1st Royal Engineers from Sweden. And then later I played the tune with Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band in 1999. I decided to give it a shot, to write a drum score for this tune on my June-challenge of writing a drum score every day in that month. The level is for the experienced player. The tune itself is very interesting a suggests a lot of off beats in the drumming, so that’s what I sort of Continue reading
This weeks shared drum score was written back in 2001 for a Danish grade 4 band to be played in their medley. It’s written for the great tune High Drive composed by Gordon Duncan. The aim, when I wrote the score, was to fit the level of the drum corp at the time, and also really try to fit what was natural for the LD in that corp to play. So I played it over some times with her before laying down the final version of this drum score. I think it’s important to make sure that Continue reading
This weeks drum score was written back in 2007 for the Balagan concert band medley. It was the opener of the medley. The tune is written by Chris Armstrong. I wanted to create a big impact right from the get go, that’s why I wrote those two big flams for the beginning. The drum score was written for the advanced level, and suited the drummers of the drum corp at the time. In the 3rd part it’s meant to be very quiet on the repeat in the first couple of bars. We’d have the bass & tenors make a Continue reading
This drum score was written back in 1999. It was written for a tune called The Big Surprise composed by Bernard Bouhadana, named after, when Bernard discovered that he was going to be be an uncle. I believe that this tune was also played by Maple Ridge Pipe Band back in 2001 or 2002, when Bernard played with them. I know that the tune appears on the Debut CD by Holbæk Pipe Band from 2000. Write to Bernard directly, if you’re interested in the piping music for this beautiful tune, or find it in Ann Gray’s Collection – Music for the Great Highland Bagpipe volume 2.
The tune is very catchy, and has a good swing to it. A perfect tune for marching down the streets. The drum score was written early on in my drum score writing journey, so there’s some stuff in there that I would write differently today. For example I can’t believe that I wrote that drag stuff in the 4th part. However Continue reading
This drum score was written a little more than a year ago for a grade 4B band. This is the intro to their medley – quite a challenge I would say. Here (underneath) are the instructions I sent them along with the drum score.
Keep all the background strokes
This drum score was also for a tune composed by Michael Grey. It’s named after two german pipers both of the name Lisa. One with dark hair and one with blonde hair.
The level of the drum score for this hornpipe was meant to fit the level of experienced drummers and includes a lot of basic pipe band drumming rudiments, such as Continue reading
This weeks shared drum score was written in 2015 for the introduction of the medley of Balagan to compete at the World Championships. It’s made by myself and the LD Louise O. Lindhardtsen some late night after a band weekend rehersal with the band. I really like this tune and the drum score as well. It has a really nice swing to it and at the same time comes across as something very traditional. As we wrote the drum score, the PM of the band gave us some ideas for breaks and accentuations throughout the drum score. I really enjoy the lift of the endings as well – although a little bit tough to execute – if played nicely, I find that the Continue reading
This drum score for the tune Lucy Cassidy, was written a few years back for myself to play at a solo competition in Luzern in Switzerland. A piper friend of mine was going to Switzerland visit a common friend of ours and asked if I wanted to come along, and also play a competition there. I accepted and had to come up with an idea for a hornpipe. So, I came up with this. I wanted the first couple of bars to be very much in sync with the tune, therefore it’s very much on the beat in the first part. The endings can be a little risky because of the Continue reading
This drum score was written a few days ago for a group of students, suggested by one of the students, who had heard the tune played by Balagan in the end of the medley. Since the drum score played in Balagan was too much of a challenge, I wrote another drum score, who better fit the level of the experienced students, yet not on the advanced level. The drum score is made much to support the rhythmic feel in the tune as well as being very rudimental in the way it’s written with for example the Continue reading
This drum score for Itchy Fingers was written for a medley selection for a grade 4 band with a stronger drum corp. When it was played, it was however to hard for the pipers to play to, because of the off beat rhythms in the drum score. I’m guess that this drum score would be a better fit for a stronger pipe corp, that doesn’t necessarily needs a drum corp in order to keep the beat&time. The drum score can also be challenging for Continue reading
This drum score was written for a tune called Compositionally Challenged composed by Iain Currie. The hornpipe was a part of a hornpipe set with the early Balagan concert band back in 2007/2008. However this tune and drum score was taken out just before the first concerts in February 2008 to give room for other stuff in the concert. The drum score is straight forward to the melody and was written not to take too much attention away from the very melodic tune. A place to really go for the dynamics would be in the Continue reading
This 4 parted drum score for a traditional Irish tune was written back in 2007 for the Balagan concert band. We played it twice – second time through we added bass, guitar and drum kit. Since then this drum score has been played by a lot of drummers in Scandinavia for solo competitions. The drum score was written to fit the tune in a concert setting and not really as a competition type hornpipe as such. The written chips were meant Continue reading
This drum score was made for the Balagan concert band back in 2009. It was part of a hornpipe set that was played at a few concerts back in 2009 and 2010. The ending of each of the parts in the drum score can easily be adapted to something more suitable for your hands, without changing the overall sound of the ending too much, by for example Continue reading
Here’s a 2015 version of the drum score that I wrote in 1999. I’ve changed a few of the patterns in there to make it more fluent (for example the beginning of the drum score). However the most drastic change Continue reading
This drum score was written in 1999 back around the time when I started writing drum scores. It was written to be the intro of a medley in a grade 3 band. It’s rather funny revisiting old scores, that I’d forgotten about. I found that if I would have to write it all over again today, I’d probably 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