Seussical - Brandon Levesque - The Miller Machine

Triangle

Finger Cymbal

Triangle Plus

Horizontal

Order 2 or more Machines. Get 5% off each. Discount in cart.

Triangle Arm

Body

Finger Cym Arm

Plus Body

Horizontal Mount

All pieces interchangeable. Mix and match.

Beater Upgrade Kit

Extra Plastic Ties

Finger Cymbal Mount

Triangle Suspension Mount

Order 3 or more. Get 10% off all. Discount in cart.

Photo of Miller Machine Trucker Cap in brown, with gold embroidery.

Brown/Gold

Long Sleeve

Grey/Black

Short Sleeve

Photo of Miller Machine 5 panel trucker cap with a Flaming M in red and yellow. Cap is a grey color.

Grey/Red

Long Sleeve

2 min read

Brandon Levesque’s percussion setup for Rhode Island College’s production of Seussical.

Read Brandon's write-up about the show, below the photos.

Brandon Levesque’s percussion setup for Rhode Island College’s production of Seussical.

“I thoroughly enjoyed playing the percussion book for Seussical. There is not too much down time and I never felt rushed. The musical has a little bit of everything in it; mallets, timpani, latin percussion and plenty of accessories. As always I needed to figure out the best way to set up so I could get to everything with relative ease. I decided to have the main music stand centered between the xylophone/bells and the latin percussion instruments (bongos, djembe, congas) since those are played most often. The timpani were set off to the back because the timpani part is not that difficult and I was still able to see the music from that distance. I placed the vibraphone off to the right-hand side with an added music stand. The vibraphone part is not as busy as the bells and xylophone.

Instruments I left out were chimes (no room so I doubled on bells) and crotales. For the crotale sound, I cut a timbale mallet down and screwed a finger cymbal to the top, using that as a mallet on the bells. It gave a different timbre instead of using a normal bell mallet on the bells.

Also, there is one marimba part which states marimba/vibraphone so I chose to play it on the vibes."

Equipment List:

Yamaha Timpani - 29” & 26”
Musser M39 Xylophone
Musser M645 Bells
Musser M48 Vibraphone
LP Aspire Congas - 11” & 10”
LP Matador Bongos
LP Cowbells - 2 different sizes
Djembe (mounted on a concert snare drum stand)
PDP 10" Mini Timbale
LP Multi-Guiro (LP 452) - used for the 3 scrapes in song 20A, measure 29
Meinl Luis Conte Shaker - Black
Grover Tambourine - German Silver/Bronze Combo
Miller Machine for Finger Cymbal
Miller Machine for Triangle
LP Granite Blocks (only need the top row of three)
LP Cabasa (used for two measures)
Zildjian A 15" Custom Crash
Sleigh Bells
Steve Weiss Ratchet
TreeWorks Chimes
Carroll Bell Tree
Acme Siren Whistle
Samba Whistle
Vibraslap
“Counter” Bell - took one off the counter at the school where I work
Pop Gun (one pop for the entire musical)
Rainstick

Seussical - Regional - Brandon Levesque
April 2017

Brandon Levesque’s percussion setup for Rhode Island College’s production of Seussical.

Conducting a National Tour by Danny Taylor

"Conducting a National Tour is incredibly challenging, but so rewarding. Stepping on to the podium with a new orchestra every few weeks really keeps you on your toes. Every player responds differently so you are constantly adjusting to get the desired result. I would compare it to playing a multi-percussion piece where the instruments are constantly moving."

5 min read

Reporting from the Broadway Trenches by Jon Berger

"After a grueling four years at SUNY I still had one theory class left to finish. I was really depressed. A classmate of mine recommended me for a tour of a Broadway show. This completely changed the course of my life."

7 min read

Drumming for "Ain’t Too Proud" by Clayton Craddock

"When I first got the call to start working on Ain’t Too Proud - The Life And Times Of The Temptations, I was curious about which era the show was going to focus on. Their career began in the early 1960’s and they’re still releasing albums today."

7 min read

The Little Mermaid - Brian Kirk

"The timpani tunings are the real challenge of The Little Mermaid. Changing pitches must be done by feel, that was my biggest challenge. Memorizing the mallet parts was also very necessary."

2 min read

The Little Mermaid - Alec Wilmart

"As you can see in the pictures, I prefer to have as much 'stuff' right in front of me, as close as possible. Because there are so many instruments close in, I have mounted a music stand off of the tom mount.

2 min read

Kevin McNaughton's setup for the National Tour of Pretty Woman at the Old National Centre (formerly the Murat Theatre) in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Pretty Woman - Kevin McNaughton

"Different from the tour, the original Broadway production had acoustic drums, an acoustic set of timbales, and an acoustic tambourine - the tambourine is now programmed in the SPD-SX."