“God Bless all of you... We tenor players have waited our share!”

“Fans of the snare drum solo collection “Violent Ice Cream” will enjoy this compilation of works for marching tenor drums. The book contains six solos and two pieces for tenor ensembles, written by Matt Altmire, Nick Werth, Bill Bachman, Brian Perez, Colin McNutt, Mike Hodges, and Matt Ramey. Links to video performances of these pieces by the composers themselves can be found at tapspace.com.

The book provides a notation key, which is important due to the many effects utilized in the pieces, including, among others, rimshots, cross-overs, buzzed notes, playing on neighbor’s drum, back sticking, shanks, stick shots, and “behind the back.” In addition, each piece includes program notes, performance notes, and the composer’s bio.

These pieces are crazy hard! Each is full of complex rhythmic patterns and a myriad of special effects. They are written at the highest level of the art and should only be attempted by serious, accomplished players. “The 2005 SCV Tenor Ensemble,” by Ramey, is particularly interesting as it also includes some keyboard percussion, hand drums, and drumset. This book represents the state of the art in tenor drumming.”