Classic Festival Solos (Snare Drum), Volume 2 Solo Book: Snare Drum Book

Fifteen solos means your students won't exhaust the book in a season, and the range of styles keeps rehearsals fresh. Barnett's pieces dominate the collection with inventive rudimentary work, while the Sousa and Cohan arrangements provide the melodic anchor that keeps students engaged through technical challenges.

These solos capture a particular energy: playful one moment (Sugar Beats, Snap, Crackle, Pop), marching confidently the next (High School Cadets), then pivoting to intricate stickwork (Drumfounded). You're not locked into one mood across the book.

This collection serves advancing elementary and early intermediate players preparing for contests or recitals. Students ready to move beyond single-challenge solos and explore musical character within technical frameworks will find substantial material here.

• Study the accompaniment recording closely before your first run-through; many of these solos sit in dialogue with the piano rather than simply over it.
• Attack the flams and diddles with precision by visualizing the grace note independently from the primary stroke, especially in pieces like Flim Flam where technical flash depends on clarity.
• Anchor your tempo in the opening measures and trust your internal pulse rather than chasing the recorded accompaniment, which gives you room to shape phrases musically.
• Balance technical passages with the song underneath; even a title like Pet Rock rewards listening for melody and contour, not just execution.

Load this into your solo and ensemble prep curriculum starting in January so students have time to develop their choice before spring contests. The 15 options mean multiple students can work from the same book without overlap, building efficiency into your rehearsal schedule.

• Control of diddles and flams at varying tempos and dynamics
• Reading and executing syncopated rhythms within a metric framework
• Coordination with accompaniment, phrasing with piano
• Interpreting style markers and translating them to snare drum technique
• Balancing rapid technical passage work with musical intent