Pelican
for percussion ensemble
Pelican by Brian Slawson is a quirky percussion ensemble perfect for younger players. The piece is a riff on the standard pop-tune style with predictable phrasing, grooves, and melodies. The piece largely contains basic rhythms and syncopation and is centered in the key of C major – an excellent canvas for teaching. Throughout the piece, Slawson infuses a few accidentals for a brief challenge. In the back end of the work, a key signature change will keep students on their toes. Pelican is a wonderful piece to program for young students in their first percussion ensemble setting.
Pelican ships as a printed, professionally bound score and includes individual parts in PDF format for printing or tablet viewing.
- Glockenspiel
- Chimes
- Xylophone
- Vibraphone
- 2 marimbas — (1) 4-octave, (1) low A
- Drumset
Reviews
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Ben Cantrell –
This new release is written for nine players and clocks in at around three minutes. It’s a funky jam for younger students that does not pretend to be anything that it’s not; it is here to have fun. The instrumentation is constructed in a very smart way that utilizes a lot of the standard instruments found in a high school or middle school, especially keyboards. As a teacher, one could use this to push keyboard education in a percussion section. The only hiccup would be if a program does not own two marimbas. It gives a chance for a young drum set player to work on groove and even makes playing chimes cool!
Many aspects of this piece work well for less experienced percussionists. While in standard 4/4 time, there are two 5/4 measures that would be a great introduction to time signatures other than common time. One of the marimba parts has a written glissando, which can introduce this concept to students for the first time. Most of the work is in the key of A minor, which could be a good opportunity for students to learn about major keys vs. minor keys. Towards the end of the work, there’s a hard shift to B-flat minor, which can be a good opportunity for students to learn a new key that they don’t usually play in.
There are plenty of great opportunities for learning in this work along with possibly one of the most important aspects of music: fun!