Rex Lycan’s percussion setup for The Little Mermaid at the Howard Brubeck Theatre in San Marcos, California.
Rex's write-up and gear list below photos.
“A lot of the show is played on timpani and bells, so those went at the front of the setup. There is also doubled suspended cymbal, mark tree, and bells in both the drum set and percussion books. This is all done on purpose. I used the synthesizer for tubular bells and also for the handclaps in ‘Under the Sea'.
There was quite a bit of Latin bongo playing in this show, as well as plenty of orchestral numbers. There are maybe two or three crotale notes so I did the old trick of playing the bells with finger cymbals. For the ‘Ship's Bell’ I used a large Zildjian Zil-Bel played with a hard xylophone mallet.
Overall, it was a very easy show, except for 'Les Poissons Mayhem'. The song had stick switches and timpani pedaling galore. The Miller Machine really came in handy for that one.
The concert bass drum and gong are fairly isolated so those were in the back of my setup. I would definitely recommend getting a piatti stand for this show. During tech week I had them stacked on a trap table and it made the fast switches almost impossible. Fortunately, one of the reed players had one I could borrow.
It was a very well written percussion book and definitely a fun one to play."
Percussion:
- Ross 3.5 Octave Kelon Xylophone
- Musser Bells
- Ludwig Fiberglass Timpani
- Ludwig Concert Bass Drum
- Latin Percussion Performer Series Congas
- Latin Percussion Bongos
- Toca Ratchet
- Latin Percussion Cowbell
- TreeWorks 6" Triangle with Miller Machine https://www.themillermachine.com
- Brake Drum
- Bell Tree
- TreeWorks Chimes
- Latin Percussion “Shake-It" Shaker
- Latin Percussion Foot Cabasa
- Latin Percussion Red and Blue Jam Blocks
- RhythmTech DST Tambourine
- Latin Percussion Fiberglass Guiro
- Custom Shaker (I made this out of a water bottle and rice)
Cymbals:
- Zildjian 18" A Custom Crash (suspended)
- Zildjian Zil-Bel
- Zildjian 18" A Crash Ride and 18" ZBT Crash (piatti)
- Zildjian Thin Finger Cymbals
- Wuhan 26" Tam-Tam
Electronics:
- Roland Juno GI Mobile Synthesizer
Sticks/Mallets:
- Drumsticks (generic)
- Mike Balter 10B Xylophone Mallets
- Bell Mallets (generic)
- Vic Firth M183 Yarn Mallets (for suspended cymbal)
- Innovative Percussion James Ross IP908 Brass Mallets
- Double-Sided Bell Mallets (plastic and rubber)
- Vic Firth American Custom T3 Staccato Timpani Mallets
- Janson Percussion Ludwig Payson Model Bass Drum Rollers
- Gong Mallet (generic)
- Zildjian Travis Barker Double Stick Mallet
The Little Mermaid - Regional - Rex Lycan
September 2019
