Thread: Question About Percussion Players

This may sound like a silly question, but how many percussion instruments can I use for three players (other than the timpani and celesta players)? I like variety in percussion, but I don't want to get disqualified for having too many instruments. Does three players mean three instruments, or can I (safely, for a normal professional orchestra) score for more than three in the work if I allow the three players reasonable time to put one instrument down and pick up another (and rest)?

If there is enough time to switch between instruments it should work. But without guarantee. Better ask them by e-mail or so to be sure.

Daniel

You can use practically as many instruments as you want per player, as long as there's enough time to switch and the stage is big enough. Some composers call for as many as ten instruments or more per player.

I have a question too: Do you have different parts for different instruments or are they all rolled into one? If not, how do you decide what everyone plays? How do you mark what instrument it should be played on?

Usually, there are different parts for each percussion instrument. Although, sometimes parts are combined onto the same sheet. Many percussionists learn to become really good multi-taskers fairly quickly! At times it becomes tricky and you begin to drop things...I was the percussionists during the performance of a play once and learned just how important of a skill multi-tasking is if you're the only person responsible for 6 different instruments! Needless to say, there were some dropped instruments, and a few missed notes, but since the band had the privacy of playing in a pit, no one else really notices,... unless they realize that the thump! sound wasn't actually in the part. That was also the time I vowed to never again volunteer as a pit musician for a play, and I reserve other reasons for that.

usually if you have kettle drums you want to have one person playing the kettle drums (Timpani).
in fact the Timpanist is a whole different section. but if you are writting auxillary parts it does not matter as long as the instrumentalis has time to switch.
( you can have agogo bells, tambourine, wood block, triangle, crash cymbals, .... all by the same instrumentalist).

Best way to write for more percussion instruments is to have one part per player, with each instrument they use on a different line.

So for example say you have 2 players. Player 1 plays timpani, player 2 plays cymbal, snare drum, triangle and tambourine (at different times in the piece). The timp player has his own music. Player 2 has his own part with say, cymbal on one line, snare on another, etc. There is no usual convention so you'd have to label this at the beginning of the piece