Santa's Percussion Parade

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy One of the best-known melodies from the ballet "The Nutcracker" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is played by a mallet trio with glockenspiel and marimba, initially relatively true to the original. Gradually, this develops into a swing rhythm, with the glockenspiel player switching to the snare drum. Optionally, a small drum set can be used in this part. The solo on the marimba can also be improvised freely. The bass part can also be played on an A marimba. Es ist ein Ros entsprungen Vibraphone and marimba play this beautiful Christmas carol freely in tempo and dynamics. This requires good listening to each other, because there is no continuous meter. The musicians should try to create a coherent musical arc over the whole piece. The melody, written in Bb major, ends after some phrases in a C major chord. This unusual turn should be deliberately emphasized. The vibraphone can be played with two mallets; a four mallet technique is required on the marimba. Kommet, ihr Malletspieler After a mystical intro, the melody, inspired by the Christmas carol "Kommet, ihr Hirten" originally from Bohemia, develops into a groove in ¾ time, reminiscent of a singer-songwriter style. Because of the two-against-three rhythm that often occurs, the piece can be seen as an exercise in alternating between duols and triplets. The solos of glockenspiel and xylophone can also be freely improvised ad libitum. It will be shown that the glockenspiel and xylophone are also well suited for improvisation. Alternatively, the parts can be played on a vibraphone and marimba. The rhythm and bass parts can also be omitted and alternatively played on an A marimba. Florian Klinger, born 1991 in Hollabrunn, is an Austrian percussionist and jazz vibraphonist. He studied classical percussion in Vienna and jazz mallets in New York. He is a percussionist in the orchestra of the Volksoper Vienna, lecturer and founder of the ensemble Louie's Cage Percussion. Florian Klinger has played in ensembles of various musical genres and has collaborated with renowned orchestras such as the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, the RSO Vienna, the Tonkünstlerorchester Niederösterreich, as well as with renowned musicians such as Benny Golson, Bob Mintzer, Elina Garanca, Jose Carreras, Jonas Kaufmann and many others.