Flash Mob by Robert Clayson

Robert Clayson wrote Flash Mob to address a gap in the percussion repertoire: Short quartets that are neither overly difficult nor simplistic. Clayson writes, “I settled on the idea of a good flash mob: something exciting and accessible that will grab and hold the audience’s attention.”

In service of that goal, this work is built around catchy pop riffs and grooves. The difficulty is appropriate for intermediate percussionists, as each player is given hints of more advanced language to chew on: quick licks and hocketing in the keyboard parts; tasteful metric shifts in the drum parts; and so on. This brilliant addition to the repertoire is equal parts listenable and engaging – excellent for developing percussionists and directors of such groups!