"TINPLAY" Spinning Set-up Idea
By Andres Aya, Stephen F. Austin High School Band Percussion Director
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"Per Andreasson's "Tinplay" is an incredibly difficult quartet that was chosen for my TOP DAWGS this percussion ensemble season. In an effort to make the piece stand out even more, I decided to have the players switch parts completely during Grand Pauses and other moments of the piece.

Often when I'm listening to my students play I will try to find the "missed opportunity." What more is this music or moment begging for?...During one of these brainstorms I thought it might be cool to have the set-up rotate TO the players instead of them moving. I had to create a spinning paper wheel and figure out who would end up where, sort out all the timing/logistics that each player would face and who would be better suited for each section (and if this "contraption" could even be built!). No room for error here otherwise they would be learning the wrong music. Yikes!

I created a prototype in my garage during Christmas break by sawing and chopping up an old Yamaha Xylophone frame that we usually use for a pit auxiliary rack. Once I started seeing the limitations of the prototype, I of course went to THE Lenfestys. Evan and Nichole Lenfesty have been such dedicated and selfless band parents for the Bulldog Band every year and a major reason our band trailer is so amazing. Evan and Nicole went to work designing and building a new frame for us. Less than a month later they came to the school with an awesome custom frame THAT COULD SPIN ON A DIME!!! AMAZING PEOPLE HERE!

From there it was time to figure out how to get everything mounted again (years of drum set rigging came in handy for sure). Ultimately it was time to add the the cherry on top or should I say Bass Drum on top. I frankenstiened two Yamaha vibraphone auxiliary bars upright and it was the perfect fit for one of our unused 36" Pearl concert bass drums.
Lots of other details could be said about this unique set-up but you get the gist (this was a bear to get done). Many cuts, bruises and sore muscles later we had something special. This truly took tweaking EVERY DAY including some rigging during the HBU recording session."