Procession/Precession (2011)
Solo percussion - 7'
I find humankind’s spiritual nature to be an important part of the machinery of the physical universe, so appreciating the connections and commonalities between us and the universe, and the spiritual and the physical, and using those ideas to inspire some kind of musical communication seems both necessary and natural to me. In this piece, those inspirations play out on a number of levels.
People “process”, often in a religious ceremonial context. Astronomical bodies “precess”, due to the fact that we as observers are moving on our own wobbling planet. In this piece, the drums roughly represent the “earthly”, the metals a kind of “star music”, the wood an intermediary between the two, and the rattle an unseen but necessary “force”.
Rhythmic patterns move from imperceptibly slow (“cosmic” in scope) to faster, eventually speeding up to the point of no longer being “rhythm” (“subatomic”, in a sense). This mirrors our own perspective in the cosmos, where we can perceive only a fraction of the natural order. However, our constant engagement with our environment is hopefully expressed in the moment-to-moment interest in the music, even during the passages where the patterns are impossibly large or have disappeared. As these patterns repeat (when we can perceive them), the bass drum and the lowest woodblock both migrate or “precess” back through the pattern, creating a sense of “larger” or “overlaid” time. It sounds complicated when explained that way, but it is not only a musical painting of astronomical phenomena, but also the same basic idea behind most dance rhythms (ceremonial dance perhaps...).
Independent of whatever symbolism lies in the work, it was written with the audience’s enjoyment in mind. I think that the flow of the music seems natural and engaging and hopefully a little knowledge of the symbolism helps listeners to digest the piece more thoroughly on first hearing.
Procession/Precession was written for Brian Holder.
I find humankind’s spiritual nature to be an important part of the machinery of the physical universe, so appreciating the connections and commonalities between us and the universe, and the spiritual and the physical, and using those ideas to inspire some kind of musical communication seems both necessary and natural to me. In this piece, those inspirations play out on a number of levels.
People “process”, often in a religious ceremonial context. Astronomical bodies “precess”, due to the fact that we as observers are moving on our own wobbling planet. In this piece, the drums roughly represent the “earthly”, the metals a kind of “star music”, the wood an intermediary between the two, and the rattle an unseen but necessary “force”.
Rhythmic patterns move from imperceptibly slow (“cosmic” in scope) to faster, eventually speeding up to the point of no longer being “rhythm” (“subatomic”, in a sense). This mirrors our own perspective in the cosmos, where we can perceive only a fraction of the natural order. However, our constant engagement with our environment is hopefully expressed in the moment-to-moment interest in the music, even during the passages where the patterns are impossibly large or have disappeared. As these patterns repeat (when we can perceive them), the bass drum and the lowest woodblock both migrate or “precess” back through the pattern, creating a sense of “larger” or “overlaid” time. It sounds complicated when explained that way, but it is not only a musical painting of astronomical phenomena, but also the same basic idea behind most dance rhythms (ceremonial dance perhaps...).
Independent of whatever symbolism lies in the work, it was written with the audience’s enjoyment in mind. I think that the flow of the music seems natural and engaging and hopefully a little knowledge of the symbolism helps listeners to digest the piece more thoroughly on first hearing.
Procession/Precession was written for Brian Holder.
