Festival of the New Sun is written for six early intermediate percussionists on non-melodic instruments. Alan Keown uses writing techniques like additive instrumentation and call-and-response to highlight each member of the ensemble.
Solo and duet phrases are found throughout the piece (which lasts a little over 3 minutes), and the whole thing grooves very nicely. If you've got six advanced middle school or strong underclassmen high school students, this piece is a good candidate to highlight them without going beyond their means.
This piece includes the full, bound score and a data CD containing individual parts (for printing) and an mp3 recording.
Difficulty: Easy +
Duration: 3:20
Instrumentation:
- Player 1: Snare Drum
- Player 2: High Toms (2)
- Player 3: Low Toms (2)
- Player 4: Piccolo Snare Drum
- Player 5: Auxiliary Percussion
- Tambourine, Temple Blocks, Cowbells (2)
- Finger Cymbals, Suspended Cymbal
- Player 6: Timpani (4)