Difficulty- Medium Advanced
Length- 4:00
Number of Players- 4 Players
Instrumentation-
Percussion 1: Bongos, low drum (tom or muffled BD), wood slat, china cymbal
Percussion 2: 4 toms (graduated low to hi), earth plate, wood slat
Percussion 3: Snare drum (or high-pitched drum), tom, wood slat
Percussion 4: Bongos, medium drum, wood slat, kick drum
Publisher- Self-Published by Composer, available at (www.andreavenet.com)
Program Notes-
"My beloved English bulldog, Shosti, is no stranger to drums and percussion. She has been surrounded by these sounds her whole life. She lays under the marimba while I practice and refuses to be far from sight when I’m playing drums at home. Added bonus, most of the things she does are rhythmic with some level of consistency. For example, Shosti drinks water in combinations of 7/8 and 9/8, which is represented at letter B. She witnesses a lot of creativity that happens at home and much of it is a direct result of interacting with her in idle moments because I am a huge dork. Consequently, one hilarious and interesting thing about her is that she loves paradiddles. Whether it be drumset, or a multi-setup, or tapping a groove on nearby objects, it instantly sets her off into a boisterous “play mode” frenzy, even from a dead-sleep. She also gets very fired up when hearing Clapping Music (Reich)!
Bulldog is inspired by Shosti and our jam time. The content of the piece is based on paradiddles in various forms, and includes rhythmic grooves and patterns that represent things I associate with the bulldog “freestyle”. Within paradiddle groupings of different lengths, there are variations of voicing, sticking, and patterns. One versatile thing about paradiddle language are the funky grooves that emerge when extracting one voice/hand, especially when juxtaposing over a contrasting but steady pulse. Like an English bulldog, the piece is intended to be fun, sturdy, thick, short and sweet!
Bulldog (2021) was commissioned by Third Coast Percussion." -Andrea Venet
Composer Bio-
Dr. Andrea Venet is a percussion artist, educator, and composer specializing in contemporary and classical genres. She is Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of North Florida where she directs the UNF percussion ensemble, teaches applied lessons, pedagogy, methods, percussion literature, and co-directs the UNF NuMIX ensemble. As an international soloist, chamber musician, and clinician, she maintains an active performance schedule with appointments held in Europe, Japan, Canada, and Trinidad. As a soloist, select appearances include the WASBE & Àgora Actual Festivals (Spain), Steve Weiss Mallet Festival (Barnes Foundation, PA), PASIC, the Celebrate Marimba Festival, Eastman School of Music, and with the PMR Brass Band (SK, Canada). In addition, she has been a featured performer with Valerie Naranjo, Ivan Trevino, Lawson Ensemble, Project Trio, Eastman Percussion Ensemble, and Grammy-winner TOOL. Her duo, Escape Ten, remains active as performing artists nationally and internationally, in addition to regularly commissioning new works. Alongside signature mallets through Malletech, they have their own publication series of works written for the duo (including pieces by Venet) through KPP. You can hear Andrea on albums This Prismasonic Rock I Stand (Mark Records), Our Favorite Things (Ravello), and Colours of a Groove (Escape Ten). A passionate educator, Andrea’s research involves pedagogy, classical improvisation and historically informed Baroque performance practice techniques for Bach on marimba. Andrea’s compositions and arrangements can be found self-published via her website, through Keyboard Percussion Publications (KPP), and Tapspace, in addition to articles published with Percussive Notes and Rhythm!Scene Journals. Andrea is an artist for Malletech, Black Swamp Percussion, Remo, and DREAM Cymbals and is an active member of the Percussive Arts Society. Find out more at www.AndreaVenet.com.