Graffiti by Chad Heiny © 2025 Tapspace Publications, LLC (ASCAP). All rights reserved.
tapspace.com
Notice of Liability: Any duplication, adaptation, or arrangement of this composition requires the written consent of the copyright owner. No part of this composition may be photocopied or reproduced in any way without permission. Unauthorized uses are an infringement of the U.S. Copyright Act and are punishable by law.
TSPCE25-004
In the summer of 2022 my family and I took a bike tour of London, England. One of the stops on our journey was Leake Street, which is a road tunnel in Lambeth where graffiti is legal and encouraged. Stretching just over 300 yards and tagged not just on the walls but ceiling as well, the tunnel is a surreal, mesmerizing, and inspirational experience to traverse. I was in love and held up the bike tour in order to investigate the space thoroughly. Sorry not sorry.
I wrote several pieces inspired by our European travels that summer. Graffiti is the most recent and perhaps my favorite. Having been asked many times to write a (mostly) un-pitched percussion-driven chamber piece, I always balked due to what seemed like a lack of creativity or direction on my end, but after the Leake Street experience, I finally had enough ideas and eventually dove into the work spray can first.
The sounds of a spray can misting and shaken are created by instrumentation choices like guiros and choked sizzle cymbal. The use of marching snare drums and their diddle passages are also a nod to the spray can. The setup itself is meant to feel like a tunnel of sorts, a reference to the Leake Street tunnel.
is dedicated to Luca, Korbin, Nico, Tommy, Michael, and Josh.
If tuned pipes are unavailable, experiment with playing on chimes (tubular bells) using hard plastic mallets or vibraphone with hard mallets and perhaps foil under the bars.
I highly recommend aluminum mallets on the glockenspiel for all but the middle section in 15/8.
The marching snare drums need to have a different character, so I recommend a Mylar head on the drum used by percussion 2 and a Kevlar head on the drum used by percussion 4.
Graffiti requires 6 players with the following instrumentation:
Percussion 1 — sizzle cymbal, concert bass drum, cowbell (low), 5 tuned pipes (G#, A, C#, E, F)
Percussion 2 — field drum (or deep snare drum), marching snare drum w/ Mylar head, 2 jam blocks (high/low), pedal trash metal (i.e., ribbon crasher, trash cymbal stack, metal trash can lid)
Percussion 3 — kick drum (mounted), 3 toms, bongos, trash stack (all shared w/ P4), high guiro
Percussion 4 — kick drum (mounted), 3 toms, bongos, trash stack (all shared w/ P3), low guiro
Percussion 5 — Zil-Bel, 2 splash cymbals (high/low), concert snare drum, marching snare drum w/ Kevlar head, pedal trash metal (i.e., ribbon crasher, trash cymbal stack, metal trash can lid)
Percussion 6 — guiro, kick drum (w/ pedal), cowbell (high), glockenspiel
P e r c u s s i o n 1
s z z e c y m b a , c o n c e r t B D
c o w b e l ( o w ) , t u n e d p i p e s
P e r c u s s i o n 2
f i e l d d r u m , ja m b o c k s ( h i g h / o w ) ,
m a r c h i n g s n a r e ( M y a r ) p e d a t r a s h m e t a l
P e r c u s s i o n 3 k i c k d r u m ( m o u n t e d ) 3 t o m s b o n g o s t r a s h s t a c k ( a l l s h a r e d w / P 4 ) h g h g u r o
P e r c u s s i o n 4
k i c k d r u m ( m o u n t e d ) 3 t o m s b o n g o s , t r a s h s t a c k ( a s h a r e d w / P 3 ) o w g u r o
P e r c u s s i o n 5
Z l - B e l , 2 s p a s h e s ( h g h / o w )
c o n c e r t s n a r e , m a r c h n g s n a r e ( K e v l a r ) p e d a t r a s h m e t a
P e r c u s s i o n 6
g u i r o , k c k d r u m ( w / p e d a l ) , c o w b e ( h g h ) g l o c k e n s p i e
° ¢ °
