The Collected Solos of Charley Wilcoxon: Snare Drum, Collections, Book

This collection gives you festival-ready material organized under one cover, eliminating the need to juggle multiple single solos. The range of difficulty within Grade 2.5 lets you assign appropriate challenges to drummers at slightly different stages without stepping outside a coherent repertoire set. Wilcoxon's writing consistently rewards careful attention to technique without sacrificing the satisfaction of playing something that actually sounds musical.

These solos land in the space between etude and performance piece. Each one offers a specific technical focus, yet they're written with enough rhythmic character and dynamic shape to feel like real music. Playing through them generates genuine satisfaction rather than the sense of grinding through exercises.

High school and middle school percussionists at the intermediate level, particularly those preparing for festival performances or seeking a curated set of solos that progress logically. Directors who want reliable, proven repertoire that develops fundamental snare drum technique without requiring extensive arrangement or preparation time.

• Work through these in order of publication or difficulty within your rehearsal calendar. Each solo builds on principles introduced in earlier ones, creating a natural progression even within a single grade level.
• Give the snare tuning and head condition serious attention. Wilcoxon's solos reveal everything about a drummer's touch and control, so a poorly tuned drum will work against even solid playing.
• Emphasize the dynamic shapes written into each solo rather than treating them as rhythm studies. The contrast between passages rewards expressive playing and keeps these from feeling like mere technical exercises.

Build a festival entry schedule across the year by assigning different solos to different drummers at various concert dates. The variety in these pieces also works well as warm-up or demonstration material during sectional rehearsals, showing other percussionists what proper snare technique and musicality sound like at their own grade level.

• Control of fundamental rudiments (paradiddles, flams, rolls) in musical context
• Dynamic control and accent clarity across a range of tempos
• Reading mixed meters and syncopated rhythmic figures
• Phrasing and musical expression on a single-stroke instrument
• Stamina and consistency in repeated patterns