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Zipzap
General Info
Year: 2016
Duration: c. 8:00
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: B. Silverman Music Publications
Cost: Unknown
Instrumentation
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II (II doubles English Horn)
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone (doubles Eb Alto Saxophone)
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III-IV
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Electric Piano
Double Bass
Timpani
Solo Drum Kit
Percussion I-II-III, including:
- Glockenspiel
- Marimba
- Vibraphone
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Poor drummers: they sit at the back of the band and wait. And wait. And they’re always told to play softer, and then they stay late packing up the van. This piece is for them. Now the paradigm is turned on its head, with the drums not only providing a backing groove, but also leading front-and-center. It’s a maniacally ostentatious drum solo in which all of the drummer’s hits and flourishes are married to blaps and bleeps and sweeps and swoops in the rest of the band.
This piece came as flash of inspiration (literally in the shower) and was to a small extent inspired by the film Whiplash in which an abusive bandleader torments his young drummer. It’s also a response to drum kit parts written by contemporary classical composers which tend to sound meek, tepid and thin, as if the drummer was straightjacketed or the composer wasn’t very well versed in how drums can be played with abandon. For this piece, I did my best to compose a drum kit part that sounded spontaneous, authentic, and hard driving, yet completely enmeshed with the musical foreground. The drum part was then revised in collaboration with Justin Alexander, to whom I am deeply grateful.
- Program Note by composer
Zipzap was commissioned by a consortium of three schools: Rowan University (Joseph Higgins, director of bands); University of Minnesota Duluth (Mark Whitlock, director of bands); and West Chester University (Andrew Yozviak, director of bands).
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Alabama Birmingham Wind Symphony (Sean Murray, conductor; Gene Fambrough, percussion) – 27 February 2020
- Rowan University (Glassboro, N.J.) Wind Orchestra (Joseph Higgins, conductor; Justin Alexander, drum kit) - 8 December 2016 *Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Alien Robots Unite! (2014)
- Alternating Current (2011)
- Carbon Paper and Nitrogen Ink (2013)
- Hard Knocks (2011)
- I echo you, we are repeated (2004)
- Raining Bricks (2018)
- The Rule of Five (2017)
- Speaking Truth to Power (2018)
- Wail (2010)
- Zipzap (2016)
Resources
- Adam Silverman website Accessed 23 November 2016
- Perusal score