I’m getting to the point where I don’t feel completely left behind on the sight-reading front when it comes to playing with the Charnwood Concert Band and the Charnwood Symphonic Wind Orchestra. Sometimes though the different musical journey I have taken compared to those who might have spent decades honing their ability to follow the dots gets a chance to come into play.

Tonight at CCB, we played a piece called Sparkling Drums, which is essentially a bit of a jaunty tune providing an extended opportunity for the drummer to let loose. Our conductor had the idea that they wanted it to be sparkling drums… and bass. I got a couple of 8 bar spots to contribute. For one I used a loose version of one of the sections from the song; for the other, I used the riff from Michael Jackson’s Beat It, which uses a similar “climb and stretch” pattern.

I’ll need to do a bit more experimenting at home but I think I’ve got something workable, where I can get leverage from not needing it all written out. FWIW, here is the publisher’s version of the song: