Run

Duration: 4 minutes

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Released: 2020.05.27

Players: (1) 3-5 cymbals, hi-hat, 3 drums, kick drum + electronic playback

Purchase PDF Sheet Music

“RUN” was originally written for Duo Cortona as a duo for voice + violin and won the Duo Cortona Composition Competition at the 2018 Cortona Sessions for New Music. In early 2019, “RUN” was re-imagined as an electronic/pop song. Later that year, this electronic version became the backing track for the most recent version of “RUN”: drum kit + electronic playback.

“RUN” is great for students familiar with drum kit that are looking to explore multi-percussion music, students familiar with multi-percussion looking to explore drum kit music, and students looking to explore electro-acoustic music.

The percussion setup for “RUN” can be modified and exploration with different sounds and instruments is HIGHLY encouraged.

The key elements of the setup are:

  • (3) drums [tuned to different pitches]
  • (3) cymbals/resonant metals [tuned to different pitches]
  • (1) hi-hat
  • (1) kick drum

“RUN” is intended to be performed without a
click track.

– electronic playback [.wav] is included with
purchase of the score.

Below are the lyrics to the original voice + violin version of “Run”

running back // through the field, you don’t know it

in the town // where I was born

in the skies // of your memories

can you see it? // is it burning hot?

in the city? // dying, burning, rot?

running // fire // flashing // burning // in the city

flashing // fire // throwing smoke into the air

smoke fills the sky // running out of time

burning brighter // for fear // fighter

running out // sky of cloud

running faster // burning brighter // fear or fighter

unknowing // running // it hits // the flame // deep inside

flame and ash // where it sticks // no sleeping here // tonight

darker than it // you would know

running out of your time // running out of your time

running out of your time // running out of your mind

running

your time running // your time running

and goes up in smoke

“RUN” was premiered by Clark Hubbard on January 30th, 2020 in Ann Arbor, MI.

“RUN” (original version) was premiered by Duo Cortona on June 1st, 2018 in Cortona, Italy.

Soda Song

Duration: 4 minutes

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Released: 2020.04.04

Players: (1) 5 Soda Cans

Purchase PDF Sheet Music

dedicated to the University of Michigan Percussion Studio

About “SodaSong”

“SODASONG” was written in April of 2020 after a conversation with Doug Perkins. Since most of the United States was under lockdown (due to COVID-19), many percussionists and students found themselves without access to instruments owned by schools and universities.

“SODASONG” was written as a multi-percussion solo designed for percussionists to play with materials found throughout their homes. While originally composed for 5 soda cans, “SODASONG” can be performed on any five pitched objects (glass bottles, plates, paint cans, tom-toms, etc).

Structurally, “SODASONG” switches between duple-meter and triple-meter sections, each with their own melodic themes.

“SODASONG” is a great piece for students with limited access to instruments and for students interested in or looking to explore multi-percussion music.

Thank you to Neil McNulty, Ancel Neeley, Pete Nichols, Doug Perkins, Hohner Porter, Johnathan Rickard, Chris Sies, Sui Lin Tam + Daniel Vila for being a part of the #SodaSong digital world premiere on April 14th, 2020.

video by Doug Perkins
video by Chris Sies

Light Cycles

Duration: 16 minutes

Difficulty: ★★★★

Premiered: 2019.09.07

Players: (1) Violin

Purchase PDF Sheet Music

(Commissioned by Claire Niederberger + The Post Cortona Premieres Project)

About “Light Cycles”

“Light Cycles” is a 17 movement work written for and commissioned by my friend Claire Niederberger. I asked Claire to send me a list of 10-20 specific colors and she selected each shade primarily based on the name of the color. While I composed each movement, I was primarily influenced by the visual hue of each color. My goal, when developing this work, was to create a flexible and customizable performance piece. “Light Cycles” is designed to accompany a wide array of programming settings. As many or as few movements can be performed in a given performance as the performer desires, the movements can be played in any order, and the movements can be performed continuously or scattered throughout a given setlist.

#F0F8FF • ALICE BLUE

#8DA399 • MORNING BLUE

#6D9A78 • OXLEY

#989F7A • SAGE

#E6E200 • PERIDOT

#FFFF99 • CANARY

#F4CA16 • JONQUIL

#EAA221 • MARIGOLD

#CC7722 • OCHRE

#A38068 • MOCHA

#CB410B • SINOPIA

#CC8899 • PUCE

#DE5D83 • PRIMROSE

#BD33A4 • BYZANTINE

#5A4FCF • IRIS

#645452 • WENGE

#353839 • ONYX