Peeping Tom

for snare drum and voice

Composer: Dan Senn
Year: 1986
Duration: 4.5 minutes

Peeping Tom, hyperbole aside, is one of my favorite pieces to perform, and never ceases to amaze me. If you can get past the hilariously effective text, which is difficult to do unto itself, you end up face to face with an extremely technically demanding and musically challenging snare drum solo. Played entirely with brushes, numerous decisions are left to the discretion of the performer, such as how to treat the rolls. There are a handful of possible rolls using brushes, so does one play each roll the same or does he or she utilize the various brush-roll types? Musically, Senn scores for a gradual build throughout the piece. This build utilizes a long-term crescendo and accelerando. While each part (the snare drum and the voice) are not as difficult on its own, the real joy and frustration of Peeping Tom comes when putting the two together. As a result, the real question is who is the peeping tom? Is it the performer or the audience?