(My Favorite Purple) Prickly Pear (Perc Ens 7)

(My Favorite Purple) Prickly Pear is a battery septet that features diverse styles of drumming are included, from traditional rudimental, drum-set, and contemporary hybrid, to Afro-Cuban hand drumming. Additionally, some modern minimalist-cascara rhythms, and polyrhythms are employed as motivic material.

Genre: Percussion Ensemble | # of Players: 7
Series: N/A
Level: Medium Advanced | Duration: 5:20

Instrumentation
Player 1: Wood Plank, Zil-Bel, Triangle [laid flat], Field Drum [shared w/ P2]
Player 2: Multi-Bass Drum, Large Snare Drum, Small Cymbal Stack
Player 3: Kick Drum [w/ pedal], Piccolo Snare Drum, 10" Tom, Small Cymbal Stack [shared w/ P2]
Player 4: Brake Drum, 12" Tom
Player 5: Wood Planks, 14" Tom
Player 6: Djembe, 2 Congas, Bongos, Sizzle Cymbal [shared w/ P7]
Player 7: Wood Plank, Piccolo Snare Drum [shared w/ P3], Maraca, Sizzle Cymbal [shared w/ P6]

Program Notes
Composed for The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Percussion Ensemble’s 2023 Texas Music Educators National Clinic/Conference (TMEA) Showcase, (My Favorite Purple) Prickly Pear was written to feature the performers in a “drummy piece,” contrasting other works on the program. Diverse styles of drumming are included, from traditional rudimental, drum-set, and contemporary hybrid, to Afro-Cuban hand drumming. Some modern minimalist-cascara rhythms, and polyrhythms are employed as motivic material. Elements of the Chihuahuan Desert and Franklin Mountains provide inspiration, including the bamboo-like flowering stems of Yuccas, the reddish alpenglow of the Franklins at dusk, and one particularly astonishing purple prickly pear located on the UTEP campus.