Design Thoughts On Part III – FREEZE
Scott Kurtzweil
To ensure that his show would be long enough to meet the minimum time limits for the Michigan competitive circuit, band director Mark D’Angelo composed a drum solo that added just over a minute. Entitled Freeze, the drum solo fits stylistically well with the other movements and provides a nice transition from Part II – Liquid to Part IV – Solid.
Freeze is a traditional “old school” drum solo that utilizes all of the voices of the percussion section but not one wind player. Because of this, I as the drill writer was able to explore more of the space behind the hash where usually a band of this size dares not to tread. Since Freeze, like the other movements, has strong referential connotations, I tried again to pick those up in the design. The major techniques employed are linear and solid forms before finally developing into a full ensemble solid that cover much of the center of the field
Winds break apart creating space into which to move the battery percussion
Continuing to pull the drum line to center stage while developing winds into smaller solids.
Here the snares are staged separately for their feature. Watch the video to see each battery section featured in its own time.
As the Afro-Cuban grove begins, the winds are unified into a solid “push” form while the battery is stretched into an ensemble set.
As the “grove” builds, the winds are restaged into a large block that will feature internal motion.
