Who wants to get a percussion ensemble to play in something other than 4 beats a bar?

When you are talking about groove.......Sixes are satisfactory, but

Dear Friend and Percussion enthusiast,

Have you ever felt frustrated because every new piece you came across was written in the standard "4 beat in the bar" type grooves? If so, then read on because today I've got a piece to share with you which can actually challenge, inspire and educate young musicians, and they'll have fun at the same time!

Nines just fine was written because I felt bored and frustrated with the pieces that I'd done with percussion ensemble. My students were getting overconfident - they thought they could do anything! One day we had done an old fashioned 6/8 march in band, and a few of the students had some difficulty with it.. so I thought... why not do something in compound time?

As with all my music the instrumentation is fairly simple, and flexible for whatever you've got in your school. It has 8 players, as you can see on the scores below.

I couldn't decide on whether to use 6/8 or 9/8, so I decided to use both! I used a combination of rhythmic ideas from Afro Cuban 6/8 grooves and Jazz Waltz feels to come up with the patterns in this piece. Let's take a look:

The piece opens with a solo vibraphone with interjections from the drums. This gives you a great opportunity to highlight one of your talented tuned percussionists.

Once the piece settles in, and the bass enters we move into 6/8 for the first time, hearing a variation of the 9/8 opening.

There is no drum set part in this piece - the piece is written with several drummers all playing an intricate part of the rhythmic structure.

The 9/8 time signature re-asserts itself in the next section, first with the drums, and then with the tuned percussion.

Our now familiar 6/8 melody returns for a dramatic conclusion.

This Music Works – Or Your Money Back I’ve partnered with the Fun Music Company to bring you this website, and they have a very strict rule. NO MUSIC can be published unless it WORKS! They simply wont publish anything unless it has been tried and tested in school situations.. and the reason is this… Your Satisfaction is 100% Guaranteed Yes.. that’s right. The Fun Music Company is the only music publishing company I’m aware of that if the piece doesn’t meet your expectations they’ll give you your money back! No Questions. No Hassles.. just contact them within 30 days and let them know why, and they’ll happily refund your money. Infact.. if they didn’t have that rule I’d insist they did!

Bonus CD Quality Recording included...

As with all the music from zcpercussion you get a CD Quality recording, that you can burn to CD to demonstrate the piece to the ensemble. This is incredibly helpful when you introduce these rhythmic concepts for the first time.

So if you are looking for a piece of music that:

• Exposes your ensemble to different time feels and grooves

• Will be a challenge rhythmically, but not impossible!

• Will inspire your students to go out and listen to Jazz and Groove music in different time signatures

• Will be great fun to play, and enjoyable for audiences to listen to...

Then you owe it to yourself and your ensemble to try out Nines Just fine today. As with all my music, I have a 100% money back guarantee, so if you don't like it for any reason you can simply contact the good customer service folks at the Fun Music Company, and they'll refund your money.

YOu can take this music and try it out, completely risk free, so go ahead and order for not the list price of $49.95, which is what it would cost in the music shops, but for just $29.90

Your audiences will thank you, when you perform the only piece in the next concert which isn't in 4/4 Time! They won't understand WHY its different, but you will! You will also have enriched the musical lives of your ensemble by helping them learn and feel a new groove!

Up and On!

Zac Courtney