CURVE: New music for percussion

CURVE: NEW MUSIC FOR PERCUSSION

Director Toby Kearney Tuesday 13 December 2022 The Bradshaw Hall Birmingham City University

PROGRAMME

PROGRAMME NOTES

Chan Chak Hang A Bell Curve

Chan Chak Hang A Bell Curve

Holly Gowoland Microcosmic Yizhou Wang In the Wind James Knowles start small Phillip Matty Abiophonia i. Reveille ii. Meridian iii. eve

Vratislav Klemera Droplets Pablo Aldunate Intermezzo for Vibraphone and Crotales Tiago Sousa Rodinha Nova Yuri Bryars Winter in Bloom Peter Bell Owl in Leaves Lukas Ohlemacher An Attemp t Fatou Sourang Un Mariage au Sénégal

A bell curve is a graph depicting the normal distribution, which has a shape reminiscent of a bell, a mathematic function of standard deviations.

The centre of the curve, the highest point, describes most average statistic results of all data points where concentrated; the furthest away from the centre is more scattered. The structure of the piece is inspired by the bell curve.

Holly Gowoland Microcosmic This piece explores small cells of material developing throughout the piece. Furthermore, the percussionist feels a need to respond to the tape part or vice versa, as they are imitating each other and triggering certain textures

Yizhou Wang In the Wind This piece for marimba, vibraphone, crotales and glockenspiel, describes the sound of being in the wind. The first part uses a combination of different instruments to depict the form of the wind. The second part uses accents on the marimba to convey the messiness that the wind brings.

James Knowles start small As a musician with a background in mallet percussion, it was a treat returning to the instrument for start small. My writing process for the piece began with a rediscovery of the solo marimba music I used to love five or so years ago. Through my reacquaintance with the instrument, I found that it afforded an intuitive physicality which suggested to me the anxious and jerky, yet strangely graceful shapes from which start small grew. Maybe parts of start small are looking to capture the fresh curiosity, the hesitancy, the bewilderment, the poise, the apprehension of toppling at any moment, of a child taking their first steps.

Phillip Matty Abiophonia

Photo © Alex Henshaw

Abiophonia (In the absence of biophony) is an exploration of the idea that natural sounds are being driven from our lives through the overstimulation of our hearing. The anthropophony, which is any sounds made by humans or their creations, make up most of our auditory experiences and now dominates most soundscapes. Take the time to reflect on what you can hear. This work is divided into three movements, three different explorations

of contemporary soundscapes. The first ”Reveille” is dominated by a growth of noise and chaos; a wakeup call from the city. The second ”Meridian” explores and isolates moments in a soundscape captured just outside Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in October 2022. The third ”eve” explores a pre-nocturnal experience of the soundscape as the final church bells toll for the day.

Vratislav Klemera Droplets Droplets is based on a catchy polyrhythm the rain played on the roof of my kitchen, and reflects the way individual drops of rain sync in and out with each other rhythmically, phasing from a drizzle to downpour and back.

Pablo Aldunate Intermezzo for Vibraphone and Crotales A brief piece for vibraphone and crotales.

Tiago Sousa Rodinha Nova Inspired by my interpretation of the Brazilian spirit present in musical gatherings, this piece tries to capture a groovy energy and the social aspect of playing together. “Rodinha”, in the title, means “little wheel” in Portuguese and comes from the name of a game I played as a kid with a football, where everyone playing formed a circle and passed the ball to each other without letting the ball touch the floor more than once. It is also a reference to a musical structure called “Roda” (wheel) where the performers play a short chorus together followed by a mini solo from someone. The process is repeated until everyone has had their chance to solo.

Yuri Bryars Winter in Bloom In two contrasting parts this piece for solo marimba was inspired by an Italian novel of the same name. The first section, driven by the semi-quaver ostinato, should give the feeling of the cold windy winter air, something that is then counteracted by the free second section where the calmness and beauty of the winter landscape comes through.

Peter Bell Owl in Leaves Owl in Leaves is about the small and strange things we sometimes fail to notice.

Lukas Ohlemacher An Attemp t A piece approaching the idea of change and adjustment, in a reality of order within order within order within. Through playful experimentation and exploration, music aches to express whether through me or you but for nothing but itself. That’s the joy of art, but what‘s that anyway?

Fatou Sourang Un Mariage au Sénégal During a fresh night of summer, in a little neighbourhood in Senegal, there is an after party

for the wedding of two young people in love.

The speaker and his band are coming along and animating the night with some groovy riffs, praising the bride’s ancestors, and wishing her luck and children. Everybody dances around, and the aunts and sisters of the freshly-wed couple are singing and yelling good luck and eternal joy to them. The couple enjoys and throws money at the speaker and the relatives, as a way to thank them for the beautiful words and prayers. Everybody’s having fun and enjoying their time, dancing and singing for the newlywed couple, until is late at night.

PERCUSSION Jordan Ashman Diego Villarreal Poppy Ormrod Yufei Zhu Kai Cooper Daisy Davis Alex Walton Eva Laverty

Sehyogue Aulakh Kai-Shin Chang Andrew Woolcock Meng-Hua Lin Aidan Hammond Tom Pritchard Chuling Ye