Sheet Music by Percussion Music Composer Todd Ukena

Highland Memories $5.50

Highland Memories by Todd Ukena
(snare drum solo)

This solo had it’s beginnings when I saw bagpipe band at a Macy Day Parade. I don’t remember what year but I do remember the drone of the bagpipes and the tight, crisp sound of the snares with accented buzz rolls, and the bass drums twirling their sticks. For the next couple of months after that I started messing around with a germ of a rhythm, (first two measures at letter A.) It took me a while to get the sound that I wanted, (mainly because I couldn’t get any of my snare drums tight enough to make the pitch I wanted to hear. Now with the high tension snares, it’s a breeze!)

The first movement’s overall form is rondo form (Intro. A B A’ C A” D A’’’.) There is a subtle difference between each A section with each adding a little bit more of a challenge.

Notice that all rolls (buzz rolls, by the way, and they must be tight crisp buzz rolls,) are accented at the beginning and not the end. This is important to the style of this solo so put more emphasis on these accents.

The second movement has the same kind of ideas, only in 6/8 and with the snares turned off. With the slower tempo the mood will be darker and it should be that way. The dynamic changes should be abrupt and extreme.

The third movement should be as fast as possible that a triplet roll pulse is good enough for a crisp buzz roll. When learning this movement and dealing with the rolls, play this triplet roll pulse without the buzzed rebound. The roll section of this movement, letter Q to past letter T, is difficult only because there is not rhyme or reason to the length or order of the rolls.

Use areas of the drum head to contrast the dynamics, (near the rim – p, center – ff.) I like the tone colors produced when you use the different areas of the drum head. Stick height should also be considered to make the greatest contrast in the dynamics.

By the way, I labored with what to call this solo for quite a while. I ended up finding the names in a National Geographic on article on the Highlands of Scotland. I think the titles come close to the mood of each of the movements.