John Beck’s Concerto for Timpani and Percussion Ensemble is a piece that features little melodic content, instead highlighting a mixture between traditional and extended techniques by six different instrumentalists. In the reference video (found on YouTube under the title of John “Beck Cocnert for timpani- played by Oleg Sokolov”) there was no name given to the performance group, but the timpanist name is Sokolov, and he was accompanied by Xhdanovich, Vesley, Kasal, Vytiska, and Pashayeu. These musicians played the timpani, marimba, xylophone, break drums, vibraphone, concert toms, chimes, bongos, orchestra bells, sbare drum, bass drum, clave, wooden blocks, and gong. Overall the piece was musically dull, but the experimental techniques used on the timpani were interesting and may be a valuable tool for other composers. Halfway through the piece, Sokolov played the timpani without sticks, and used his fingers on the …show more content…
The sound resembles the sound of bongos or other types of hand drums, but is much louder, so it is more likely to be heard over an orchestra or in a large setting. Also, one can obtain the sound of a hand drum while still enjoying the benefits of having a defined pitch on the percussion instrument. Other uses of extended technique in this piece include bongos being played with the backs of sticks, the marimba being played with back of sticks, the vibraphone being played with a bass bow, and the congas being played with mallets. From a composition standpoint, it would make sense of include all of these instruments being played with extended techniques in the ensemble, since the main instrument, the timpani, features extended techniques. All of these nonstandard uses of the instrument provide a concoction of interesting timbres to the concerto, and somehow the concoction of different timbres gives the piece a sense of unity, while contributing to the non-Western feels and sounds displayed in the