Arcadia (2025)
Snare drum solo with Evans Hybrid Sensory Percussion
4:00
Arcadia is the first-ever concert snare drum solo written exclusively for Evans Hybrid Sensory Percussion. The piece combines rudimental vocabulary, organic foley sounds, and a warm harmonic language to create a wholly unique experience for the performer and audience.
As the performer progresses through the piece, rim hits trigger changes in the drumhead sounds, shifting between different arpeggiated chords and natural soundscapes.
No prior experience with Sensory Percussion is required. The piece is completely plug-and-play; open the included Sensory Percussion file, play the notes on the page, and the music will come out.
Download includes sheet music PDF, Sensory Percussion session file and samples, detailed technical notes, and a link to chat with a Sensory Percussion expert for additional help.
In Greek mythology, Arcadia is an unspoiled, idyllic paradise, full of natural beauty, where all things live in harmony with one another. Similar to the Garden of Eden, or Shangri-La, it is one of the great archetypical representations of a utopia in nature, uncorrupted by civilization.
As an instrument, the snare drum lends itself well to intensity, dynamism, energy, violence, virtuosity, and more. However, it is usually not the first choice of an artist looking to convey beauty, calm, love, or the organic. These concepts are often more easily communicated through other instruments, such as the harp, clarinet, or violin.
While each instrument has its own strengths and weaknesses, those who play the snare drum rarely get the opportunity to perform music that feels connected to the natural world. Using Evans Hybrid Sensory Percussion, I saw an opportunity to transform “drumming input” into a rich natural soundscape, with harmonic and emotional warmth, and to give snare drummers the chance to play with a different sonic palette than they get to otherwise.
Almost every sound in Arcadia has an element taken directly from field recordings; twig snaps, leaf crunches, birds chirping, forest ambience, rushing water, and more. In writing Arcadia, my hope was that audiences and performers would be briefly transported to a sonic world of wonder and natural beauty.
Arcadia was commissioned by D’Addario & Co. for Evans Hybrid Sensory Percussion, and was completed in the fall of 2025.