Perusal copy notforperformance
Alien Altar for percussion quartet
Shattered Arcana Press
instrumentation
four percussionists
percussion requirements*
-Triangles (2), suspended cymbals (2), China cymbal, tam-tam, temple blocks (5), bongos (1 pair), tom-toms (2), kick bass, bass drum, crotales (one octave)
*- this piece should be played in the dark, if possible. Standlights and dim light from tablets are ok.
Perusal copy notforperformance
Percussion 1: Triangle
pitched percussion: Crotales (lower octave)
Percussion 2:
Bass Drum Suspended Cymbal
Tam-tam
Percussion 3:
Temple Blocks (5) Triangle Suspended Cymbal
Percussion 4: Kick Bass Bongos (2)
Tom-toms (2) China Cymbal
program note
The initial inspiration for Alien Altar came from a desire to write a piece that could feel at once distant and remote, yet intimate and close. It is perhaps too easy a metaphor, but the far reaches of deepest space have always represented to me an ultimate expanse, the final threshold of perceptibility where knowledge breaks down into incomprehension. Alien Altar is a paean to that idea at the edge of our imagination, seeing it as something nearly holy in its profound distance and unreachability. Alien Altar was written for Sandbox Percussion.
Perusal copy notforperformance
please
Perusal copy notforperformance
Alien Altar
always with a sense of ritual
Percussion 1
Triangle Crotales
Percussion 2
Suspended Cymbal Tam-Tam Bass Drum
Percussion 3
Triangle
Suspended Cymbal Temple Blocks
Percussion 4
China Cymbal Bongos Tom-toms Kick Bass
Tam-tam (T.T.)
Bass Drum (B.D.) soft beater soft beater
Suspended Cymbal (S.C.) soft beater
Crotales (Crot.) very soft brushes
(T.T.) (B.D.)
Tom-toms (T-t.)
(one rotation per