Crash, Bang, Wallop! Series: Clockwork Calypso, Creepy Crotchets and Dragon Dance. - book review

by Keith Bartlett. UnitedMusic Publishers Ltd./Theodore Presser Company (588 North Gulph Rd., long of Prussia, PA 19406), 2002. $41.95 each. Late elementary.

Crash, Bang, Wallop! sounds like great fun and it is! This series of six pieces written for classroom percussion with piano accompaniment is definitely not rhythm band music. This music is imaginative, sophisticated and charming and requires solid music reading abilities and careful counting skills. These pieces will provide a fun, challenging ensemble experience for any music class--vocal, piano, strings or winds.

The best features of this well-planned series are its practicality and adaptability. Instruments used in the orchestrations are a piano and various combinations of percussion and rhythm band instruments. If a recommended instrument is not available, any similar alternative will do, and the number of players per part is left to the teacher's discretion. Each piece contains "Handy Hints" for teachers, giving suggestions for substituting instruments and achieving the best results from available instruments. Such flexibility makes it possible for any class to enjoy these compositions--even those on limited budgets.

Each piece contains a conductor's and piano score, separate parts for each percussion group and a CD performance of the work. All parts are printed in dear, easy-to-read notation, and all but the piano and conductor's score are reproducible. Individual percussion parts require knowledge of all basic note and rest values, including eighth and dotted quarter/eighth notes and the ability to count several measures of rest. Tuned percussion parts are written within a limited note range, but the piano part requires a pianist at an intermediate level or higher. The CDs contain two renditions of the work, one at performance speed and one at a slower practice tempo. Both speeds are recorded twice, each with one introductory count-off for play-alongs, encouraged for smaller groups and individuals.

The three pieces reviewed were Clockwork Calypso, Creepy Crotchets and Dragon Dance. Other pieces in the series are Tom-Tom Tomahawk, Stop/Start March and Waltz Espana. Reminiscent of Leroy Anderson, Clockwork Calypso is a syncopated, descriptive work in which one hears a clock being wound, ticking, malfunctioning occasionally and eventually winding down. The aptly titled Creepy Crotchets is written almost entirely in quarter-note values, with occasional half notes, and is based on the familiar creepy minor arpeggiated chord theme. It is filled with squeaks, tremolos, clunks and surprises, making it a wonderful inclusion for a Halloween concert. Dragon Dance is a jolly, frolicking, pentatonic composition more of the "Puff" variety than the fierce Asian type. The use of the wood block and resonant and jingly metals enhances the Oriental flavor of the music.

The pieces in the Crash, Bang Wallop/ series are educational, fun and good audience pleasers. They will require practice, but the acquired musical skills and concert appeal of the works make the efforts well worthwhile.

Sue A. Steck-Turner, Lafayette, Louisiana.

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