2026 Commission
Title: pedAL to the metAL
Length: 3 min 30 sec
Band Accompaniment: Grade 2.5 + Professional Level Timpani Solo
Notes from Consortium Lead, Alex Teater
What music teacher in their right mind would program a timpani solo feature for middle school?!
Hi! That’s me! I’m that guy. I want music like that, and it sadly doesn’t really exist. So I asked Danielle Fisher to help me out.
The idea for this commission sparked from the intersection of two very specific lines of thought.
Thought #1 is situational. I teach middle school band, and a few years ago I was fortunate to have a stellar percussion section of 14 kids, and they all could play. Two of them were selected that year for the ILMEA District Honor Band, and I wanted to feature them somehow at the spring concert that year. My search for a percussion solo feature revealed that there really is not a lot for the middle school level. It is relatively easy to find features for other band instruments, but percussion seems to be left out. That’s a bummer. I cut my losses and moved on, but that disappointment would continue to nag at the back of my mind.
Thought #2 is historical. I teach at Emerson Middle School in Park Ridge, IL, which prior to 1998 was in a different building called Emerson Junior High. Al Payson’s children attend that junior high in their youth…wait, Al Payson? As in…the Al Payson who played percussion in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1958 to 1997? The Al Payson who played snare drum on the Grammy award-winning recording of Ravel’s “Bolero” under the baton of Solti?
Yes, that Al Payon.
Al Payson was a top-notch percussionist and was also highly involved in music education and innovation. He published several method books for percussion, invented Roto-Toms, and had his own line of specialty timpani mallets. He taught at De Paul University and at Northwestern and was a clinician for Ludwig. I was fortunate to meet Al on a few occasions when he would visit at the end of the school year to tune up the timpani. It was fascinating to hear stories and experiences, and I always learned something new about percussion technique in those moments.
When Al passed in the summer of 2024 I knew it was the pivotal time to pursue something special in his honor. I had worked with Danielle on a commission in the past and it was an absolutely lovely experience, and she was over the moon about working on this special project for Al. And so here we are, in December of 2025, working towards my silly idea of having my middle school perform a timpani feature at the 2026 spring concert. And it’s going to be played on the timpani that used to belong to him (did I mention that his personal timpani are the ones sitting in our rehearsal room? Pretty cool!).
Is this a silly idea? I would posit that many folks in the band sphere might think so. But is this a special and worthwhile idea? You won’t convince me otherwise.
Al was a performer and educator, and I believe that he would have been excited about the prospect of expanding our band repertoire to be more inclusive of our young percussionists. This commission effort is dedicated to Al Payson and the impact he had on the modern music world.
Alex Teater
Music Teacher, Emerson Middle School
December 16, 2025
Join Us
If you are interested in joining the consortium, please choose your level below and submit your contact information.
Level One - ($125) get your name on the piece as part of the consortium.
Level Two - ($200) get your name on the piece as part of the consortium + 30 minute zoom lesson with me.