R!Solo “Get it!”

“Get it!” is inspired by my cat, Clarkie Mae. I found her as a kitten, under my car in Miami, and I adopted her. She is rambunctious and loves tearing around the apartment and eating food. Her food bin sits atop my toy piano, and she plays the toy piano every time she wants to eat, and then stares at me pleadingly, as though she’s still a tiny starving kitten (despite being a husky jaguar-like 12 pounds). She usually only presses one key at a time, which is represented in the music with the short, open hi-hat sounds. 

In the first half of “Get it!” the feet are the timekeepers and the hands are the soloists, with stickings for the toms. In the second half, the whole drum set is the timekeeper, and performers can come up with their own stickings. Performers should practice playing the feet alone, and then in combination with the whole kit. 

Dr. Olivia Kieffer is a composer, percussionist, and educator, and she is a member of the PAS Composition Committee. She was drummer and bandleader for the 7-piece chamber rock band Clibber Jones Ensemble, taught percussion at Reinhardt University, and is a composer and performer of contemporary classical music. Olivia has been hailed as a “toy piano evangelist.”