Compositions for Percussion

On this page you'll find a selected list of compositions especially written for percussion only or compositions in which percussion plays a major role.
Comments on compositions, facts, players experiences, advice to players, composers explanations and any other interesting or useful information will be collected on this page.
A name with an asterisk (*) in the list below has a link (at least one) to an external site that is maintained by others.
Whenever appropriate I also have a link to the composer's website. Either his private site or the site maintained by his publisher.

Contributors to this page

1. Nicholas George Papador
   Nicholas contributed: Turn of the Screw, Ballet Mechanique, Okho, Pleiades, Black Page
2. Steve Schwartz
3. Daniel Dorff
4. Eugenio L. Biancardi (euxyz@tin.it) contributed the Jolivet entry.

This composition is one of the first pieces of music that is composed entirely for percussion instruments (and a piano used as a percussion instrument). It was written in 1931 and thirteen performers are needed, playing thirty-nine instruments. The duration is around 6 minutes. It is a remarkable composition with a well worked out structure, using clear rhythmic themes and exploring the colors of percussion to a great extent.
From the first recording of Ionisation (1934, conducted by N. Slonimsky) one can hear that at that time percussionists were not so well prepared as today's players. Especially in the unison quintuplet rhythms the players are not quite together! Modern recordings of Ionisation are well available. A curious version is the recording of the Percussions de Strassbourg who play a version for 6 players (authorized by the composer). A very impressive one (and extremely well recorded) is the one by the Asko Ensemble on the Attaco Babel label.

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Miloslav Kabelác (1908-1979) was interested in percussion from the start of his composer career and he used them abundantly in his works. The Eight Inventions (op. 45) were written between 1960 and 1963 for the Percussions de Strassbourg. The inventions are to be played by 6 performers. The bar percussion instruments (Marimba, Vibraphone etc.) play an important role in the inventions. The eight inventions are full of contrast with respect to tempo, dynamics and color of instrumentation.
Because of the fact that various sets of tuned gongs (from East-Asia) are needed for the inventions, you don't hear them very often performed. And it's not a good idea to substitute a vibraphone for the gongs!
They were recorded (on Philips) by the Percussions de Strassbourg (back in 1965) and a newer recording - together with the 8 Ricerari for percussion - is by the Czech group Protokol XX on the panton label.

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Bartók's Sonata for two pianos and two percussion players (1937, first performance 1938) is a masterpiece in every aspect. Bartók himself says:

"...The seven percussion instruments - timpani(3), bass drum, cymbals, gong, snare drum, tenor drum, xylophone - require only two players, one of them at no time plays the xylophone, the other one never the timpani. These two percussion parts are fully equal in rank to one of the piano parts. The timbre of the percussion instruments has various roles: in many cases it only colors the piano tone, in others it enhances the more important accents; occasionally the percussion instruments introduce contrapuntal motives against the piano parts, and the timpani and xylophone frequently play themes even as solos."
(Béla Bartók Essays, Faber - p 417-418)

The timpani needed should be pedal timpani because of the glissandi that are to be performed. The first performance (1940) in New York must have troubled the composer somewhat (he played the piano parts with his wife), as the timpani used were only of the simple screw-type (as can be seen from the picture that was taken during the first rehearsal).

After some inquiries in rec.music.makers.percussion I was able to clear up some facts regarding the USA premier performance (thanks to Ted Boliske who pointed me to the Percussive Notes issue of April 1994. It has an interview with Saul Goodman by Paul Jasionowski).
During the first rehearsal both Goodman and Bartók agreed that it was impossible to play the timpani part on the (then) available screw-timpani, so the next day Goodman brought in two pedal timpani and two of his (own invention) chain timpani. He used the pedal timpani as the middle pair. The other percussion player on the photo was, according to Goodman:

"...much older than I was [...] and wasn't doing very well with it."

As a result the next day Henry Denecke came to play the other part.

The percussion part requires a great mastery of the instrument and the opening of the second movement with the ppp side drum rolls (with and without snares) is a good testcase for your roll technique!
One of the problems the percussionists are faced with in this work is the sympathetic resonances of the snares when the other instruments are playing. One trick to control this a bit is to put some very thin pieces of paper between the snare and the snare head. See the special page on Snare Buzz.

Bartók and Percussion Instruments

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The two ritmicas No. 5 and No. 6 were composed in 1930 and as such are the first pieces written for a solo percussion ensemble. The six ritmicas (the first four are written for winds and piano) are based on the rhythms of Cuban folk dances. No. 5 & 6 are for 11 players playing 13 instruments like Claves, Cowbells, Maracas, Guiro, Timbales, Bongos, Timpani and a Marimbula.
The instruments are divided in two groups: (1) membranes and (2) all others. Each group displays a low to high range of timbres and the two groups are playing contrasting rhythms for the greater part of the pieces. In modern practice the sound of the Marimbula (an African thumb piano) is too soft to stand up against the loudness of the other instruments and can best be amplified (or replaced by Marimba).

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This composition for six players requires a special placement of the performers. They should be placed around the audience at six locations as to form a circle of sound around the audience!
This makes it hard for the players to synchronize their different (and difficult) parts without the help of a conductor or some electronic device. One major problem is that the six players at various points in this piece not have to play in the same tempo.
Apart from the regular percussion instruments, Xenakis calls for simantra's (of wood and metal).
Persephassa was first performed in the ruins of Shiraz (in the former Persia, now Iran) at the Persepolis Festival of 1969 by the Percussions de Strasbourg.

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Written in 1976 and dedicated to Sylvio Gualda. It is a strong rhythmical piece, timbre plays a subordinate role, serving only to provide clarity. The music is written out on three to nine staves and up to fifteen different instruments are needed. At some points in Psappha ten voices are to be played together! The piece requires great mastery of independence from the performer.

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Pleiades (1979) is another sextet for percussion. It was also commisioned by Les Six Percussions de Strasbourg. The work has four movements, each which exploits a separate type of percussion instrumentation. The first movement, Metaux, the percussionists perform on metal instruments called SIXXEN (after the six players and xen as in Xenakis). The instruments were especially constructed for the work. The second movement is called Claviers and uses all mallet percussion. The third movement, Malanges (mixtures) uses SIXXEN, mallet percussion, and introduces drums. The finale, Peaux, is all drums of various sizes. Like most his works, Xenakis uses mathematical organizations of abstract and absolute sound. A form of organized chaos theory also called stochastics.

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The architect, mathematician, and composer; Iannis Xenakis composed Ohko in 1989 for the Trio Le Cercle. The trio premiered the work at the Autumn Festival at the Opera Comique in Paris. This 14 minute work is written for three players each playing an African Djembe drum. In the addition to the stochastic rhythmic density that Xenakis is well known for, he has also included several striking positions for various tone colors on each drum. The beginning is based on a simple rhythm, gradually develops into complex independent parts, and ends with a quasi-unison between the three performers.

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Between 1939 and 1941 Cage wrote three pieces with the title Construction. The first one is for percussion sextet (with an assistant) the other two are for percussion quartet.
The premiere of the First Construction was on the 9th December 1939 in Seattle, conducted by the composer. The title of this piece points to the fact that only metal percussion instruments are used in this construction. Those instruments are:
Orchestra bells, Thunder sheets, Gongs, Cowbells, Japanese temple gongs, Brake drums, Anvils, Turkish and Chinese cymbals, Muted gongs, Water gong and Tam Tam.
Also a piano is needed where the assistant has to move metal cylinders over the strings.
The Water gong is not a special instrument but more a special way of playing a normal gong: you have to lower the gong in a tub of water while playing it, which has the effect of lowering the tone in a glissando-like manner!

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Cage completed the 2nd construction on 1 January 1940 and it first performance took place on the 14th of February 1940. 4 players are needed and they play mainly on metallophonic and membranophonic instruments. At the first performance Cage and his wife Xenia were two of the four performers!

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Composed in San Francisco during March-April 1941 and dedicated to his wife Xenia. First performance: 14 May 1941 conducted by Cage. This time Lou Harrison was one of the performers!
In the Third Construction you need: rattles, drums, tin-cans, claves, cowbells, lions-roar, cricket callers, quijadas, cymbals, teponaxtles and a large conch shell.

When John Cage was "Composer in Residence" at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 1988, almost all his works for percussion were studied and performed under his supervision.
It was a tremendous experience to work with him!
On the picture Cage is demonstrating a particular technique for playing the tomtoms.

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Written in collaboration with Lou Harrison in 1941.
A piece for percussion quartet. Cage wrote the first and third voice, and Harrison the other two.

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Composed in 1942. In the Toccata Chavez calls for the regular percussion instruments included in every large symphonic formation. This work was inspired by Mexican folklore.
The writing is at some points very tricky for the players as fast 16th note patterns are divided among several performers.
The famous choreographer Jiri Kiliyan from the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), made a ballet called "Stamping Ground" that is danced on the music of the Toccata. If you ever get a chance to see it, GO!

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Robuste

• 4 timpani
• snare drum
• side drum
• wood-block

Dolent

• Vibraphone
• suspended cymbal
• Chinese cymbal

Rapidement

• Xylophone
• 3 cow-bells
• whip
• rattle

Allégrement

• Wood-block
• 3 Chinese blocks
• sleigh bells
• hi-hat cymbal
• pair of cymbals
• suspended cymbal
• Chinese cymbal
• snare drum
• tom-toms
• bass drum

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The piece is subtitled "2nd flute concerto". The soloist is accompanied by percussionists, mostly playing their instruments (very) softly. There is a loud percussion solo just in the 3rd movement.

Instrumentation:
Flute in C and, if possible, flute in G (2nd movement)

1st percussionist

• 2 Chinese blocks
• guiro
• hi-hat cymbal
• small snare drum
• snare drum, side drum
• bass drum with pedal

2nd percussionist

• 3 cow-bells
• claves
• 3 Chinese blocks
• tambour de basque
• 3 tom-toms
• bass drum

3rd percussionist

• maracas (high pitch)
• 3 triangles (small - medium - large)
• 2 wood-blocks (small - medium)
• suspended metal rattles
• 2 bongos (very small - small)
• tambourine

4th percussionist

• maracas (medium pitch)
• 3 suspended cymbals (small - medium - very large)
• tam-tam
• whip
• castanets
• rattle

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Steve Reich comments from Writings about Music:

"In June 1970 I flew to Africa to study drumming. My reasons for going were many and included my early studies of Western rudimental drumming, drumming in dance bands to help support myself during high school and while studying philosophy at Cornell University, and, perhaps most importantly, my readings in Rev. A.M. Jones' Studies in African Music, which began in 1963 [...]
Between the fall of 1970 and the fall of 1971 I worked on what turned out to be longest piece I ever composed. Drumming lasts for about one and a half hour and is divided into four sections that are performed without a pause. The first section is for four pair of tuned Bongo drums, stand mounted and played with sticks, together with male voice, the second for three marimbas and female voices, the third for three glockenspiels, whistling and piccolo and the last movement for all these instruments and voices combined. [...]
The question often arises as to what influence my visit to Africa had on Drumming? The answer is confirmation. It confirmed my intuition that acoustic instruments could be used to produce music that was genuinely richer in sound than that produced by electronic instruments, as well as confirming my natural inclination towards percussion."
(Steve Reich - Writings about Music - UE 1974).

Of course Reich wrote longer pieces than Drumming after he wrote the above notes about the piece. Besides that, in later years the usual performance length of Drumming dropped to some 40 - 60 minutes.
The first time I heard Drumming (on a DGG LP recording) I got totally confused and my awareness of time had to be adjusted constantly! Drumming is one of the master pieces of the so called Minimal Music.

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This is the first written composition for a solo percussionist. Stockhausen wrote it in 1959 while being deeply involved with the preliminary work for Kontakte. Zyklus, which means 'cycle', is conceived as a single immensely distended pulsation of a note of indescribable richness.
The score consists of sixteen pages, spirally bound so that a performer may begin at any point and read straigth through till he/she reaches the point from where one started. The score may be read either way up. In this score (which is a piece of art in itself!) Stockhausen used a form of graphical notation which is very clear and which has been used by many others afterwards.
In May 2007, one of my students (José García Rodríguez) performed Zyklus as part of his qualifying exam for a Master diploma. For that performance I had prepared a special visual presentation to go along with that performance.
The result can be seen here.

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Composed in 1960 for voice, harp and two percussion players who each have a huge circle of percussion instruments around them. Berio used poems of E. Cummings as source for the text that the "Singer" should perform (the piece was originally written for Cathy Berberian).
Among the percussion instruments you need Tablas and a Lujon in addition to Bongos, Timpani, Tomtoms, Triangles, Hihats, Bass drum (with pedal), Snare drum, Cowbells, Cymbals, Bells, Congas and a Marimba and Vibraphone.
The famous Dutch Percussion Group Circle Percussion is named after this composition.

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This composition by Dutch composer Peter Schat was written in 1961 for the Percussions de Strassbourg. It is for six percussion players and three double bass players (who play a minor role in this work). A great number of percussion instruments is needed, among them two sets of tuned cowbells, two sets of crotales, 12 cymbals, 3 marimbas, 6 tam tams and 11 tomtoms. The score uses a combination of graphical and real-note notation. The whole piece has the character of an improvisation. Players have to react upon each other, are often allowed to improvise on a given set of notes or colors and must sometimes give (visual) cues to others. The tempo is not fixed, the score is marked with seconds. Signalement can be divided in two parts: a first section which has a more or less invariable structure where not much room is left to improvise, and a second section where the players have to react on one fixed player with various (given) variations. Those leading player performs on a prepared (grand) piano and the others have to carefully watch his playing, as they have to react with one of three possible improvisations, depending on what the leading player played on the piano.

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Most of the eight pieces were written in 1950 and revised in 1966. Only the Canto was written in 1960 and the Adagio in 1966. The timpanist needs four pedal timpani. The premiere was given on the 6th of May, 1952 by Al Howard in New York.
Carter uses a process called Metrical Modulation to a great extent in this work. In this compositional technique the subdivision of a given pulse, becomes itself another pulse or changes to another (different) subdivision in the next bar (e.g.,. sixteenth notes in bar one are to be seen as eight note triplets in the next bar).
Carter explores in those eight pieces all rhythmical changes one can think of. Also the many colors the timpani are capable of producing (when the right sticks and playing technique are used) can be heard. The composer includes instructions for preparing a special timpani stick.
Usually the timpanist plays four of the eight pieces when a concert has to be given (according to the instructions of Carter).

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Comment from Steve Schwartz:

"A choral masterpiece and a delicate, precise use of percussion. Two pianos take over the main instrumental work. But it seems to be influenced by the Bartok Sonata."

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Comment from Steve Schwartz:

"Paul Creston, an American composer who had a vogue in the 40s and early 50s, was completely self-taught and consequently sounds like no one else. In general, his music is full of surging cross-rhythms, so it was probably just a matter of time before he got around to some sort of percussion concerto. This is a light work, but it's interesting to hear how one composer manages to keep the listener's attention with (in my opinion) a pretty mono chromatic instrument. Ormandy recorded this work in the late 50s or early 60s."

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Comment from Steve Schwartz:

"Extended timpani solo introduction. Robert Shaw recorded this on a private label."

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Quoting Eric Walter White in Stravinsky - The Composer and his works:

"The composition of the music was begun at Clarens in the late summer of 1914 [...]The short score was finished by April 1917. From the outset, the work had been conceived as a cantata: so the writing for voices took precedence.[...]The instrumentation of Les Noces posed a problem that Stravinsky found difficult to solve. To begin with, he scored the first scene for a monster orchestra. [....] Only a few pages were written of a score needing about 150 players for performance, which made the work virtually unplayable. The next stage was a decision to divide the various instrumental elements - strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, keyboard (cimbalon, harpsichord, piano) - into groups and to keep these groups separate on stage. This orchestral version was virtually complete by the autumn of 1917; but then he thought of what seemed to be a simpler solution, consisting of "an electrically driven mechanically piano and harmonium, an ensemble of percussion instruments and two Hungarian cimbalons" This orchestra included two keyed bugles or flugelhorns as well. [...]
In 1921 [...] he at last found the definitive solution - the vocal part was to be accompanied by an orchestra of percussion divided into instruments with and without definite pitch, viz., four (non-mechanical) pianos, xylophone, timpani, two crotales and a bell, as opposed to two side drums (with and without snare), two drums (with and without snare), tambourine, bass drum, cymbals and triangle. The greater part of the instrumentation was carried out at Biarritz in 1922, and the orchestral score was completed at Monaco on 6 April 1923."
(White, p. 253-254)

Stravinsky and Percussion Instruments

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Composed in 1918 at Morges, Switzerland. The premiere performance was on 8 September 1918 in Lausanne and the ensemble was conducted by Ernst Ansermet.
The first published edition is from 1924 (Chester). This edition contains some errors and inconsequences with respect to the percussion part. Those are detailed in Morris Lang' article A journey to the source on L'Histoire du Soldat in Percussionist 12/2 (Winter 1975). A recent edition (also Chester), with a new percussion part that was edited by James Blades, is available. According to this edition this is what the percussion player needs:

• Triangle (mounted on a stand)
• Tambourine (also on a stand)
• Snare drum II (shallow), with snare release
• Snare drum I (medium depth), with snare release
• Field drum, with snare release
• bass drum (laying flat)
• Cymbal (mounted to bass drum)

The requirement of a cymbal mounted to the bass drum is a strong deviation of Stravinsky's own score. All players I know of, always use a cymbal on a stand. William Kraft said that on a specific occasion Stravinsky approved of the use of a hihat.
William Kraft himself also published a percussion part, that is easy to use, but is not as accurate as the Chester version.

In Percussive Notes of June 1993 and October 1993, a discussion between David Early and James Blades dealth with this topic in depth.

A Concert Suite (without the narrator) and a suite for violin, clarinet and piano of this work is also available.

The name of the piece is correctly spelled as Histoire du Soldat and not L'Histoire du Soldat, which was incorrectly used by many people (including myself) for many years.

Stravinsky and Percussion Instruments

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La Création was composed in 1923 and is strongly influenced by the Jazz music of that period. It is for a small orchestra with piano and saxophone. The percussion player needs this:

• Tambourine
• Metal bloc
• Wood bloc
• Cymbals
• Snare drum
• Tenor drum
• Tambourin (e.g.,. Tambour Provençal)
• Bass drum with pedal and attached cymbal

The timpanist needs 2 very small timpani in addition to a regular set of three. This piece was composed in 1929/1930. The Premiere of this piece was in 1930 in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Belgium. Theo Coutelier was the percussionist and the orchestra was conducted by Darius Milhaud himself.
The instrumentation for the orchestra is 2 flutes/piccolo, 2 clarinets, 2 trumpets, trombone and strings.
The percussionist needs this:
Triangle, Tam-Tam, 2 Hand cymbals, Castanets, Whip, Rattle, Tambourine, Snare Drum, Field Drum, Tambourin Provençal, 4 Timpani, Suspended cymbal, Metal bloc and Wood bloc (attached to the Bassdrum), Bass drum with a pedal and also a cymbal (attached to the hoop of the bass drum) which is to be played by a small hammer connected to the normal pedal.
This device was once (in the thirties) very usual but nowadays might be hard to find. The point is that it must be switched off sometimes during playing. You can replace it with a Hi-hat. The precise term that Milhaud uses for this device is Cymbale décrochable à pied.

Tracy Thomas (tracyt@ktis.net) came up with this solution:

Last year, I played Darius Milhuad's Concerto for Percussion, and I used a different kind of setup. Instead of using a cymbal beater for the bass drum that could turn off, I used a double bass pedal. This saved me the trouble of having to turn the cymbal beater into position. I just attached the cymbal beater to the bass drum beater in a permanent position.

Comment from Steve Schwartz:

"At one time, kind of popular among percussionists. I like it for its lyricism with percussion instruments and its modesty. It doesn't try to shatter your eardrums. The only recording I've heard was conducted by the composer. I have heard it live, and it has a visual thrill to it."

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From the composers explanation:

"Rrrrrr...." consists of 41 autonomous pieces of music, beginning with the letter "R" and all performable independently. The respective instrumental setting (organ; choir and piano; percussion duo; wind instruments, double basses and percussion; solo voices; jazz combo) are published in separate volumes. A performance of all 41 pieces constitutes the Radio Phantasy 'Rrrrr...'"

The six duos are titled:

• Railroad drama
• Ranz des vaches
• Rigaudon
• Rim shot
• Ruff
• Rutscher

Those six duos for percussion are some of the most original music for percussion ever written. They may be performed separately or in any combination. The order in the score is not necessarily the order in which the duos have to be played.
Not only do the players have to be good percussion players, also they should be actors (as is often the case with Kagel's music).

Instruments needed:

Police whistle, Sheet of paper, 2 switches, Friction drum (cuica), 6 Alpine cowbells, Reco-reco on stand (preferably with spiral spring), 3 wood blocs, Tenor drum, Side drum, Sleigh bells, Ratchet, Tubular chimes, Glass marbles, rubber balls, dish of water, bottles filled with sand grains.
For duet nr. 2 you also need a prerecorded tape that the players should prepare themselves, following the instructions given in the score.

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) wrote The Turn of the Screw in 1954 based on the controversial ghost story of the same name by Henry James. It is his eight opera (4th chamber opera). The premiere was given in the same year by The English Opera Group Orchestra, Britten's own chamber opera group. The typical Britten chamber orchestra contains a thirteen piece group. The solo percussionist plays all the instruments in a multiple percussion setting. The setup for The Turn of the Screw consists of:

• Timpani
• Snare Drum
• Bass Drum
• Tenor Drum
• Suspended Cymbal
• Gong, Triangle
• Chimes
• Glockenspiel
• Woodblock.

Other Britten Chamber Operas like Albert Herring also use a solo percussion player. There are a few sections of The Turn of the Screw that distinguish it as a representative composition for the percussionist. Scene 1 after the "Screw theme" consists of about three and half minutes of timpani figures across four drums that are often the sole accompaniment for the lead soprano in the opening of the opera. Act I, Variation IV contains a difficult percussion accompaniment involving four timpani in addition to the other non pitched drums. The second act contains two separate short timpani cadenzas. Act II, Variation IX is a church scene where the percussionist plays some three pages of written chime figures, including a three hammer passage and glissandi. The end of the opera is rumored to require six timpani to execute fragments of the "Screw theme" (although ossias exist for non-pitched drums. Pedaling is also an option.). The Turn of the Screw is representative of Britten's excellent writing for the percussion insruments. Besides the orchestral literature, another representative work is Nocturne. It is difficult chamber work featuring extremely difficult pedal timpani passages.

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The self proclaimed "Bad Boy of Music" George Antheil composed the original version of Ballet Mechanique in 1925 (predating Ionisation!). The work anticipates both minimalism and futurist/indeterminate music with it's menacing robotic ragtime ideas and the use of silence in the midst of cocophany. The original version is centered around the mechanical pianola surrounded by some 10 pianos, 8 xylophones, 4 bass drums, and additional mechanical effects (electric bells and live airplane propellers!). The premieres in Paris' Theatre Champs Elyses in 1926 and in New York's Carnegie Hall in 1927 both resulted in riots. Aaron Copland was performing on one the piano parts in Carnegie Hall.

Antheil recomposed the work in 1952. Its instrumentation consists of no pianola, only 4 pianos, 2 xylophones, glockenspiel, timpani, a complete assortment of battery instruments as well as electric bells and propellers. The later version is much tamer in regards to orchestration. The overall feel is lighter with a more dance-like quality. A truly remarkable piece. Almost a percussively oriented "Rite of Spring."

Paul Lehrman notified me of this:

A "new" version of George Antheil's Ballet Mecanique is in preparation by the publisher G. Schirmer. This is actually the original version of the piece (1923-1924) which calls for 16 electrically synchronized pianolas, eight percussion, two pianos, three airplane propellors, siren, and electric bells. I am working as a consultant on the project. It will have its world premiere in Lowell, Massachusetts on November, 18, 1999. Lots more info can be found on this Website: http://www.antheil.org

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Frank Zappa, rock and roll iconoclast and composer wrote The Black Page around 1976-1977. Zappa was well known for putting very difficult written out sheet music in front of his rock band members. Terry Bozzio, the drummer at this time was reading everything down with minimal mistakes. Zappa decided to compose a written out drum solo of incredible difficulty to see if he could stump Bozzio. Bozzio was given and hour to learn it. When Zappa returned after the hour, Bozzio proceeded to perform The Black Page up to tempo, note perfect! Zappa then created The Black Page No.1: The Hard Version. This was the same drum solo with a unison melody from various instruments including metal and mallet percussion. Eventually there were other more rock oriented versions of the Black Page melody, including the disco-like Black Page No.2: The Easy Teenage New York Version and The Black Page New Age Version.

Mikael Sillman (mikael.sillman@fujitsu.fi) commented on the above:

[...] (Terry Bozzio in) an interview on 'Modern Drummer' magazine tells us that he practised it everyday for about week or two around one hour a day, before performing it to Frank. He confirmed this himself this summer when he was performing in Finland on his SoloDrumming-clinic, and I was able to ask him about 'Black Page' during Q&A. He also said that it is the most difficult piece he has ever learned (and played).

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