"jingle jamz"

Introduction

I am extremely excited about my collection of tambourine solos and duets. I have been a long time fan of the tambourine dating all the way back to my middle school years. I am originally from Texas where back in the day, the tambourine was a required instrument for students who were competing for “All-City,” “All Region,” “All Area.” and “All State.” Needless to say, the tambourine was just as popular of an instrument as the snare drum, marimba, and timpani. In addition to the tambourine, students were required to prepare concert bass drum, crash cymbals, and triangle excerpts. If you were lucky enough to have a great/supportive band director, as I was, they would allow you to take the school’s tambourine home to practice. Believe it or not, some of the audition materials for the tambourine were excerpts of “Portraits in Rhythm” by Anthony Cirone. As a result, young students were learning how to execute thumb rolls, shake rolls, and hand to knee techniques at various tempi and dynamic levels.

Currently, because of time restrictions/lack of instruction/resources, etc., most competitions do not require any type of auxiliary percussion in the audition process. This being said, I feel that there is a rather large void in proper instruction of auxiliary percussion in the school setting. Perhaps if you are lucky enough, you might have a “percussion specialist” at your school that handles all of the percussion needs: however, that may not be the case in most schools. Students often view the tambourine as an instrument you merely strike or shake and may not realize the importance of its use in various musical settings.

It is because of all this that I decided to write this collection of solos and duets for the tambourine.  Each technique is introduced via short exercises followed by solos and duets that incorporate said techniques. The compositions are meant for the intermediate to advanced performer, and incorporate musical/challenging rhythmic passages. Not only will the student learn how to execute contemporary tambourine techniques, but it is my hope that they find this process enjoyable. Since there is no “real” standardization of tambourine notation with regards to contemporary performance, I have designed a system of my own that is easy to read and understand.

Although this is not an instructional book, it does provide an opportunity for the performer to explore/practice modern tambourine techniques and applications. Some of my favorite percussionists who have inspired me with virtuosic tambourine techniques have been: Airto Moeira, Glen Velez, and Neil Grover, along with many others.

The solos and duets are fun to perform! It is my hope that this collection of solos and duets will become huge part in understanding the tambourine’s role in performance settings. I particularly enjoy the duets, as they allow the students to practice and perform with others. In closing, I have composed accompaniments for each solo and duet in this book that are available with the purchase of the book.