Into The Woods - Rex Lycan
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Rex Lycan’s setup for Into The Woods at the Old Town Temecula Theater in Temecula, California.
Rex's gear list and write-up below photos.
"There are a lot of rests but It's important that you still count. I used the keyboard for electronic drums, chimes, and timpani. If I ever did this show again I would put the ratchet closer to the bass drum and the keyboard and suspended cymbal closer to each other. There is hardly any timpani in this show so don't be afraid to use a sample pad or a keyboard.
At the end of the second act and at the end of 'Maybe They're Magic' there are tons of quick switches between snare drum and bells/xylophone. In order to achieve these difficult changes, I played the snare drum with bell/xylophone mallets so I could quickly switch over and play bells.
The Miller Machine helped a lot during 'Hello, Little Girl' when there are already a ton of fast switches between timpani mallets and brushes (trying to juggle a triangle beater in there would be near impossible).
For crotales, I played the bells with finger cymbals. The conductor said it sounded just like the real thing. In this show, percussion plays a lot of sound effects. Whenever a magic bean is thrown, for example, there's a xylophone gliss. Also, the concert bass drum is used for the footsteps of the giant in the second act.
This was a really fun show to play."
Gear list:
- Ross 3.5 Octave Kelon Xylophone
- Musser Bells
- Pearl Piccolo Snare
- Ludwig Maple Toms
- Ludwig Concert Bass Drum
- Latin Percussion Granite Blocks
- Ratchet
- Latin Percussion Cowbell
- TreeWorks 6” Triangle with Miller Machine
- Brake Drum (from my dads old truck)
- Sandpaper Blocks with 3M Sandpaper
- Bell Tree
Cymbals:
- Zildjian A Custom 18” Crash (suspended)
- Zildjian A Custom 12” Splash
- Zildjian A Custom 6” Splash
- Zildjian A Custom 14” Hi-Hats
- Zildjian Thin Finger Cymbals
Electronics:
- Roland Juno GI Mobile Synthesizer
Mallets:
- Generic Snare Drum Sticks
- Mike Balter 10B Xylo/Bell Mallets
- Vic Firth M5 Rubber Mallets
- Vic Firth M183 Marimba Mallets (for suspended cymbal)
- Vic Firth HB Brushes
- Innovative Percussion James Ross IP908 Brass Mallets
- Double-sided Bell Mallets (plastic and rubber)
- Vic Firth American Custom T3 Staccato Timpani Mallets
- Travis Barker Double Sticks/Mallets
- Janson Percussion Ludwig Payson Model Bass Drum Rollers