Skywire

Posted on 2017-12-092021-01-10 Posted in CompositionsTagged chamber, drum kit, drum set, duo, multi, multi-percussion, percussion, vibraphoneLeave a comment

Duration: 6:44

Difficulty: ★★★★☆

Released: 2018

Players: (2) vibraphone, kick drum, snare drum, 3 tom toms, ride cymbal, hi-hat

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(dedicated to Rashaad Greene, written for GreeneShark Duo)

About “Skywire”

While “SKYWIRE” is a percussion duo scored for drum kit + vibraphone, it can also be interpreted as a multi-percussion duo where one setup consists of instruments found in a drum kit and the other setup consists of keys on a vibraphone. Although the vibraphone is treated as a multi-percussion instrument, there is still a clear melodic shape throughout the piece.

The drum kit + vibraphone exchange melodic and rhythmic while each percussionist has the opportunity to function as the lead voice and accompaniment.

The drum kit part calls for the percussionist to perform grooves that utilize the entire drum kit as well as improvise. The vibraphone part calls for the percussionist to play with four-mallets and switch between playing on the center/edges of keys and the nodes to produce various colors and timbres.

“SKYWIRE” is great for students looking for a percussion duo that are interested in drum kit, vibraphone, or multi-percussion music with a jazz/pop influence. “SKYWIRE” features melodic playing, intricate polyrhythms, colorful textures, and a balance between loose/improvisatory moments and fast-paced passages.

The image on the cover of this piece is of a sculpture hanging above the streets outside of the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo, Norway.

Twenty

Posted on 2017-12-052021-01-10 Posted in CompositionsTagged marimba, percussion, solo1 Comment

Duration: 4:19

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Released: 2017

Players: (1) marimba (5.0 octave)

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(written for Madeline Dethloff)

About “Twenty”

“TWENTY” is a marimba solo inspired by the guitar music of Bruce Cockburn. Madeline Dethloff was a colleague and friend of mine in the Blair School of Music Percussion Studio at Vanderbilt University. She asked me to write a piece for her before I graduated, so I wrote this piece and gifted it to her on her twentieth birthday. Thematically, “TWENTY” should sound cheerful and celebratory.

Structurally, “TWENTY” is built around several different rhythmic ostinatos. The melody is plucked from these ostinatos as accented notes. The use of two-tone mallets may be helpful in distinguishing the melodic material from the ostinato texture.

“TWENTY” is great for students looking for a moderately challenging four-mallet marimba solo that blends contemporary percussion with pop music sensibilities in odd-meters.

Sonic Embers

Posted on 2017-11-082021-01-10 Posted in CompositionsTagged almglocken, multi, multi-percussion, percussion, soloLeave a comment

Duration: 5:00-7:00 (approx.)

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Released: 2017

Players: (1) 2 almglocken, 1 metal can, tapping feet on floor

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(written for Moose Davis)

About “Sonic Embers”

“SONIC EMBERS” is an ethereal multi-percussion solo that uses elements of improvisation and graphic score interpretation. Moose Davis asked that I compose an atmospheric piece as he had been working on pieces that were mostly fast + technically challenging at the time and wanted a stark contrast to those works.

Conceptually, “SONIC EMBERS” is based on images and text. The image (featured in the above album artwork for “SONIC EMBERS”) is a photo of the inside of a marimba resonator. This picture inspired me to write a text, which I then set to music as the score for “SONIC EMBERS.” While this piece is a setting of a text, the text is not recited during the piece. Each line of the text is realized as a line of the score and the text should guide the performer’s interpretation and performance.

While the score features no time signature, no tempo marking, and very few dynamic markings, “SONIC EMBERS” should be performed at a relatively slow tempo and quiet volume. Performers should feel free to stray from these tempo and dynamic suggestions should their interpretation of the score and text draw them to those conclusions. This piece is written spacially in the sense that events and silences should occur somewhat proportionally to how they are written in the score (each line of the score does not necessarily last the same amount of time).

“SONIC EMBERS” is great for students looking to explore multi-percussion works that feature graphic scores + improvisatory elements + ethereal soundscapes.

Below is the full text that guides “SONIC EMBERS”

Windswept moon on stars in your eye
The telephone traffic of cars in the night
Flutter, the slow crackle of wings in flight
And the whisper of mice on a hardwood floor
It falls, floating towards the sky
Small planets atrophy
Sinking into the sea
The laser light highway woven of sonic embers
Guides you to the never
In the distance you hear it
The calm call of the fields in fall
The electric dissolve
Beams of light in lysis
In the dark hours of the outhouse
Where the breeze rattles like thunder
How do you see the moon?