Task: The first task is to compose four contrasting short pieces in which you demonstrate the
different characters of some untuned percussion instruments.

I approached this task with two main goals in mind:

• Explore some of the details and nuances a few select Latin American percussion instruments.
• Learn the basics of how to use Sibelius software to notate and export a variety of different instruments.

I decided to pick four Latin American instruments for this task because I’m familiar with the way that they sound, but ignorant of the way that they are played, interpreted, and notated. Where applicable, I thought it would be interesting to try and capture some of these nuances in the scores as clearly as possible.

It is interesting to note that, although these instruments are broadly grouped by Sibelius as “Latin American Unpitched Percussion”, it is uncommon to find these instruments performed together in any combination.

1. Güiro

The güiro (also called güira, guacharaca, or carrasca) is a handheld instrument, traditionally made of gourd or metal with indentations that are scraped with a wooden or metal stick/scraper. This is instrument is quintessential in the percussion rhythm sections of many popular Latin American dance genres and can be found in orchestral pieces which call for a “latin” sound or particular incidental percussive sound effects.

The güiro is able to produce two distinct sounds which are related to the way the instrument is struck or scraped. A sharp, fast attack on the dented surface produces a short sound while a longer controlled sweep of the dented surface produces a longer “creaky” sound. Varying combinations of these short and long attacks are the main characteristics of this instrument. The instrument has no natural sustain, and the longer note durations are limited by the speed of the sweep along its surface and the length of the instrument. Realistically, notes longer than a crotchet are not feasible.

Sibelius has built-in sounds for the güiro, including sharp and long attacks. The sharp attacks are indicated with a staccato marking, while the longer attacks are typically left unmarked. I thought perhaps it would be beneficial to have tenuto signs for the longer attacks, and this doesn’t seem too distracting, but feedback would always be appreciated for this.

2. Bombo Legüero

The Bombo Legüero is an instrument from the north of Argentina, and is the main percussion accompaniment of the folklore tradition of the country. The instrument is a hollow wooden drum with a tensed cow-hide membrane. The instrument is struck with two wooden beaters. Traditionally, one wooden beater has a soft and rounded head, while the other does not. It is increasingly common for musicians to employ traditional drum sticks, which are perhaps easier to maneuver and have more established techniques.

The drum has two characteristically distinct sounds that it can make, and as such, a two-line percussion staff seems appropriate. The first sound is a low bass drum sound which is achieved by striking the drum near the center of the membrane. The second sound is done by striking the wooden rim of the drum with one or two beaters, often quick succession as with a flam. The flam was notated with a grace note on the rim-sound line. This particular instrument was not included in the Sibelius sounds, so I took the opportunity to learn how to customize instruments and try for a crude approximation.

This piece uses all 16 bars available for this task and is in triple meter. The piece is very loosely based on the chacarera rhythm of northern Argentina, though very liberally interpreted. This is characterized by a strong accent on beat two in the bass drum tone, which I have kept throughout. In the instance where this doesn’t happen (for example m.10-11), expectations are broken, and then restored.

3. Cuica

The Cuica is a very peculiar percussion instrument which I was glad to find Sibelius had programmed into its sound and styles library. I only recently learnt what this instrument is called by having to look up “monkey sounding drum” on Google, and I clearly wasn’t the first one to have enquired about this. I was immediately led to its own Wikipedia article.

The drum is hollow, usually made of metal, and has a synthetic membrane. It is held under one arm and then its membrane is rubbed from underneath with different levels of pressure. This drum is often associated with carnival and samba music of Brazil and is recognizable for its alternating low and high pitched squeals, product of the friction generated against its membrane.

There is very little sustain associated with this drum, so traditionally a rapid alternating pattern between the low and and high squeals is commonly employed. The short solo piece below is eight bars long and makes use of a dotted-quaver and semi-quaver pattern as well as alternating semi-quavers between the low and high pitches. Accents feature on the counted beats of most bars. I have included dynamics, but these are largely limited by the design of the instrument as well as Sibelius’ own sounds in the sample below.

4. Okónkolo

For the final piece of these short percussion solos, I picked an instrument which stood out to me because of it’s name. I was not immediately familiar with this drum, which comes from the Yoruba tradition brought to Cuba, but I wanted to try to write for an instrument which I hadn’t considered in the past.

The Okónkolo forms part of the Batá drum family which are double headed drums played horizontally. Each drum is struck by an individual open hand. As such, articulations which would require both hands playing a single drum (such as a roll on an individual drum) are not possible. Flams could be done if the preceding grace note comes from the opposite drum, and this is something I tried to notate in the solo.

I wanted this short eight-bar piece to have an improvisational feel with no set time discernible. I thought one way to do this might be to have non-repeating groupings with varying time signatures and tempos. I decided to keep the initial three-quaver motif that starts the piece as a point of reference for the listener. My lack of familiarity with this instrument makes me doubt whether this would be appropriate for the way the instrument is performed. Regardless, this was an interesting challenge and a point for reflection.