I’m getting back into writing music because… because, that’s why. It’s been 5 or so years, but I’m pretty good at getting back into the swing of writing the musical part (though admittedly my understanding of music theory is still very naive), but I’ve never written percussion. This is a shame, because a lot of really awesome music is absolutely driven by kickass timpani lines or base and snare rhythm. Timpani is a bit easier since it plays actual notes, atonal percussion is where most of my problems lie.
The thing is, I’ve never even played drums, and I can’t read percussion music, much less write it. I think that I’m not alone in this, since when I was in wind symphony in high school, it wasn’t uncommon to see a score that had a composer and a separate percussion composer.
I’m mostly interested in orchestral/symphonic music. Or at least in that general style*, I’m not too hung up on the exact instrument composition whether it be string, wind, or even one of those modern ones that use some electric instruments. Just as long as it has percussion behind it.
Are there any good resources for learning percussion composition/theory?
- Yes, yes, symphonic music spans centuries and even within a small part like “percussion” there’s bound to be countless numbers of styles and variations. Sue me, I’m getting my feet wet here, not writing a dissertation on the history of percussion use.