Polyrhythms Through Pop Music (2024)

A collection of seven advanced snare drum solos scored to music of a popular style. Inspired by the snare drum music of Joseph Tompkins and several of my favorite musical artists, this collection is one that was ultimately written to give myself some challenging, yet fun, snare drum music that could have its place on a solo recital. The book also features exercises that target specific measures within each solo as well as fundamental ideas of playing percussion.

The heart of this book is accessibility. The idea is that the ‘method book’ side of the book will make the solos in the book more accessible to the performer, the pop music will make the solo snare drum medium more accessible to the listener, and the varying genres will make the book more accessible to a wider audience.

Available for sale at Liquidrum.com

The seven songs used in the book amount to 32 minutes of music.

  • Seaside Town by Baths

  • LK WX by Frontierer

  • Half Breed by BIG|BRAVE

  • Blood of the Fang by clipping.

  • Black Blood by Car Bomb

  • Starfish by Sevish

  • I Am Colossus by Meshuggah

Coalescence (2021)

Described by Robert van Sice as “what you’d imagine a Jackson Pollock painting to sound like”, this sextet is an impressionist cloud of polyrhythms and harmonies that has an incredibly simple structure yet hundreds of fine details within.

Commissioned by Robert van Sice & the Yale Percussion Group and premiered on March 9th, 2022.

Available for sale at Liquidrum.com

shepard tone (2020)

Written in the immediate wake of George Floyd’s vicious murder, Black Lives Matter protests, and COVID lockdown, shepard tone explores the idea of an ever-spiraling descent that grows increasingly fervent as time passes. Additionally, as the piece progresses, the harmonies become more and more overlapped, much like different communities coming together for a singular cause, or in some cases, clashing.

For score purchase inquires, please contact directly at kevin.zetina27@gmail.com

sink (2019)

Inspired by artists like The Kraken Quartet, TTNG, and Plini, ‘sink’ is written to be a fun math-rock inspired pop song. The song explores rhythmic patterns that revolve around the number five, while still maintaining a groove that is often felt in a straight 4/4 with catchy melodies and harmonic progressions.

I am extremely grateful to my students Trik Gass, Annika Blackburn, Zac Swafford, and Burke Rivet for bringing this piece to life.

Available for sale at Liquidrum.com

Meshuggah - Dancers To A Discordant System (2008)

arranged by Kevin Zetina (2016)

I have been a long time fan of Meshuggah, and after growing up playing guitar in metal bands I wanted to recreate that feeling within a percussion setting. After arranging their music, I find Meshuggah’s music to work incredibly well within the percussion medium given its rhythmic nature, pattern based writing, and generally heavy grooves. As a teacher, I also find this music to be a useful pedagogical tool; there is plenty of music in the percussion canon that features rhythmic cycles, and with Meshuggah’s grooves being so infectious, it makes the complexity of their music a bit more approachable than one might expect. 

For score purchase inquires, please contact directly at kevin.zetina27@gmail.com