Seussical - Brandon Levesque - The Miller Machine

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.

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