3 Dances for Solo Timpani: Timpani Part(s)

McCormick has created something rare here: a solo timpani work that treats the instrument as a complete melodic voice rather than a rhythmic accompaniment. The three dances work beautifully as standalone pieces or as a unified suite, giving you flexibility in how you program them. Each dance's distinct character means your student gets genuine variety within a single score.

These dances sit somewhere between angular and flowing, with moments of rhythmic clarity interrupted by passages where pulse feels deliberately slippery. There's a sense of exploration throughout, as if McCormick is discovering what melodic storytelling looks like on an instrument built for rhythm.

Intermediate-plus percussionists ready to take the timpani seriously as a solo instrument deserve this piece. It's ideal for students who've developed solid technical control and are hungry for repertoire that challenges their musicianship and interpretive thinking.

• Approach each dance as a distinct entity with its own personality. Don't let the familiar layout of the instrument tempt you into playing all three with the same energy or interpretive approach.
• Pay close attention to the rhythmic ambiguities McCormick builds in. These aren't mistakes or unclear notation; they're intentional compositional choices meant to create tension between what you feel and what you play.
• Use melodic interval changes as your guide to shaping phrases and breathing points. The timbre contrasts between drums tell the story as much as the rhythms do.
• Trust the silences. With a solo timpani work, what you don't play carries as much weight as what you do.

Feature this on a percussion recital to showcase serious solo timpani work, or perform all three dances as a suite to create a substantial, focused segment within a larger concert. The piece also works well in a chamber or contemporary music context where audiences expect compositional ambition from less traditional settings.

• Melodic phrasing and shaping on a non-pitched percussion instrument
• Interpreting rhythmic ambiguity and metric tension
• Timbral variety and control through mallet selection and striking technique
• Understanding melodic intervals created through pitch relationships on multiple drums
• Solo performance confidence and musical independence