Program Notes
Thank you for coming to my first faculty recital here at Sam Houston State’s School of Music. I’m very excited to share this program with you.
Amethyst
Andy Akiho (b. 1979) has been hailed as a “trailblazing composer” (L.A. Times), and is someone that I think will become an etched figure in percussion history.
This work the vibraphone is one of four solo interludes from Andy’s 75-minute, Grammy Nominated work Seven Pillars (a quartet written for and commissioned by the New York City based ensemble Sandbox Percussion). I will be frank in saying that it SHOULD HAVE won the award.
In addition to his intricate usage of rhythm and meter, this work utilizes an array of timbres: a coarse brush, a timbale stick that can be used to hit single pitches or clusters of notes, and even the usage of fingers. This combination of timbre and rhythm creates layers of counterpoint that, to me, is equally stimulating and relaxing.
Having Never Written a Note for Percussion
James Tenney (1934-2006) was thought of as one of the first early Minimalists along with composers such as LaMonte Young and Phillip Glass. While Minimalism aesthetics seemed to challenge the fundamentals of visual art and music, Tenney took this task on even further. Having Never Written a Note for Percussion is one of several “Postal Pieces” that the composer authored in his life; the music notation itself was written on the back of a postcard and sent off to his musical friends and collaborators. Sonically speaking, this piece trains the performer and audience to engage in the simple act of training one’s ears on the process of listening to sound. Not just hearing sound, but listening on a much deeper and profound level by discovering that there many layers to even just one, basic sound.
(Please note that I will NOT be offended if you need to plug or cover your ears at any point in this piece)
Variations on Japanese Children’s Songs
Keiko Abe (b. 1937),the first woman to be inducted into the Percussive Arts Society’s Hall of Fame in 1993, is considered to be a groundbreaking pioneer of solo marimba performance. Although there were marimba solos composed before her career fully blossomed, Abe’s work as both a commissioner of new works and a composer of her own marimba solos revolutionized the percussion community, worldwide.
Improvisation is a fundamental characteristic in Abe’s marimba solos, but not in the same vein as say a jazz musician would improvise. Many of Keiko’s works began as her own improvisations that became refined and written into music notation. Although some works are through-composed from start to finish, others contain footnotes that indicate to performers that they may improvise material based on what is written or have the freedom to create their own cadenzas in performance.
Another important characteristic of Abe’s marimba compositions is the usage of ostinatos (repeating musical patterns). Much of Keiko’s pieces have an ostinato in the percussionist’s left hand, while melodic material is presented in the right hand. This sort of “sliding doors” effect results in patterns that begin together, move at different paces from one another, and then eventually come back into unison with one another.
Same Rivers Different
“Water music, essentially. Some of the music is wet, liquid – some dry as a stone. The pulse like a river – straight, steady, but with abrupt twists, turns. You hear the same music 3 times (but never the same – can’t step in the same stream twice…) followed by an extended afterthought.
‘Upon those that step into the same rivers different and different waters flow…
They scatter and…gather…come together and flow away…approach and depart.”
Heraclitus
fragments 12 and 9″
– Michael Fiday
Composed Improvisation for one-sided drums with or without Jangles
Composer John Cage was considered to be an American maverick for percussion music, and contemporary music moreover. Some considered the man to be a lunatic who just organized “noise.” Others saw that he was ahead of his time because he challenged the very notion of what “music” is and what it could be.
This piece is one of three “composed improvisations:” one for bass guitar, and the other for snare drum.
The I-Ching, also known as the Book of Changes, became a compositional tool for Cage throughout the latter part of his life. The I-Ching is a series of operations that are based on chance to produce one of sixty-four possible outcomes. The drawing of numbers, timestamps, and even written out rhythms out of a hat is how I created my version of this piece.
Cage saw this method of chance as an opportunity to exclude the performer from improvising in his compositions:
“Most people who believe that I’m interested in chance don’t realize I use chance as a discipline… [that]… provides a leap out of reach of one’s own grasp of oneself.”
If we consider the etymology of the word improvisation, improvisus, then the creation and realization of this piece is rooted in the “unforeseen” or the “unexpected.”
Canned Heat (2002)
This multi-percussion solo contains a set up of bongos, tom-toms from a drum set, a tambourine, a metal object of the performer’s choosing, and a large metal tin can.
It’s pretty rocking!
(Enough said, I think).
Boyce Jeffries 