Meet percussionist, educator and composer Tracey Patten

We’re thrilled to welcome percussionist, educator and composer Tracey Patten as the latest artist to sign on with TSO Publishing.

Tracey is a regular on the TSO concert stage, having performed as a casual percussionist and timpanist with the orchestra since 1997.

As a composer, she has received commissions from the TSO and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestras and has written percussion tutor books.

The TSO Publishing catalogue of works to buy or hire now includes three of Tracey’s educational works for beginner percussionists and concert bands.

TSO Publishing coordinator Thomas Misson caught up with Tracey to learn more about her compositions and her nearly 30-year relationship with the TSO.

Thanks for joining us, Tracey! Please tells us about some of the music that is now available at TSO Publishing.

I aim to create music that is rewarding to play and my pieces tend to be structured for technique and versatile for different skill levels and lesson types.

Five Reflections for Snare Drum was commissioned by the MSO for the orchestra’s 2025 Snare Drum Award. I wanted to create a piece to showcase the player’s versatility around orchestral and rudimental styles, while giving them space to show their musical style and improvisation skills.

Tombo was written for players with varying ability levels in a beginner concert band.

It was such a buzz attending the first read-through of Tombo by the Combined Primary Grade 5 Band here in Hobart and seeing the excitement that the players had for the music.

What inspired you to write educational resources for percussionists?

I was drawn to writing my own method books to freshen up the resource pool I was using, and it forced me to be critical of my technique and, through trial and error, write music that is educational but fun for students to play.

My beginner percussion book is suitable for individual lessons, group lessons, mixed level participation and individual extension work.

In my mallet solos book, a teacher marimba accompaniment is provided, which helps for assessment and most pieces have also been arranged for percussion ensemble, which provides further performance opportunities.

Who are some of the people who have influenced you over the years as a percussionist, educator, and composer?

I’ve had many positive influences during my career, including the percussionists of the MSO and my husband Matthew Goddard, who is Principal Timpanist of the TSO – we have spent many hours discussing, dissecting and exploring all things percussion.

My first high school music teacher strongly encouraged me to join the school band and take percussion lessons.

I learnt from Ray Horn and then Richard Smith at the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide

Both had a traditional approach, which is still the basis of my lessons, but my teaching style is really a mixture of all the things that worked for me, and that also work for my students.

Joining the South Australian Schools Percussion Ensemble really opened my eyes to what was possible with percussion and led me to the South Australian Youth Orchestra, State Music Camp, National Music Camp and the Australian Youth Orchestra.

Touring Europe with the AYO was incredible and taught me so much about orchestral playing.

At a National Music Camp, Graeme Leak inspired me to be versatile by performing across many musical genres, and by teaching, improvising and composing at the highest level I can.

My post graduate teachers at the Victorian College of the Arts and the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam all helped me immensely through their focus on orchestral style and technique.

What else inspires your work?

Spending my life listening to and playing orchestral music and teaching percussion and concert band music has greatly influenced my composing.

I see what works, what the students need to develop as a band and individually, and importantly, what students like playing.

Many of my compositions tend to come to me in the form of rhythmic motifs, a chord progression, events in my life or even the natural beauty of Lutruwita / Tasmania.

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