Are you looking for something refreshingly different for your next percussion ensemble performance?

 

Introduce your groups to different concepts of music through this engaging work

 
 

Dear Friend,

Have you ever felt that there was nowhere left to go?, that you had done every different style of music with your groups, and it was just re-visiting the same repertoire you were doing five years ago?

It was one of these situations that led me to compose this piece. I had been working towards school showcase performance after performance, always finding a few pieces that worked every year, and we had been doing so well that it was getting bigger and “louder” every year. I felt like I was stuck in “Groundhog Day”, continually coming out with the same ensemble pieces each year.

Mystical Traveller was written because I felt a need to break out of this cycle. I needed something that had different sounds, different style and feel, and different expectations on the students in the group. They needed a challenge, and so did I!

Mystical Traveller

The piece opens with a suspense filled introduction, with Piano and Vibraphone being accompanied by atmospheric percussion sounds. Throughout the score there is lots of opportunity for the ensemble director and members of the ensemble to develop their musicianship by choosing appropriate sounds for given events in the score. In this audio example you will hear how this group has used a bundle of Shells, a Shaker and some small Indian Bells to play the atmospheric sounds.

Some dramatic drumming ushers in the main theme of the piece, which is in irregular time signatures. While they are somewhat unusual they are not difficult for the ensemble to grasp. The drama unfolds through this whole first section, with interesting interplay between the untuned and tuned percussion players.

There is interesting interplay between all the percussion parts throughout. This next example shows how the untuned percussion players perform almost a counter-melodic function to add to the texture of the music.

A dramatic climax leads to a driven unison drum solo – which concludes the first section of the work, leaving the audience breathless in anticipation of what is going to happen next.

(Excerpt from Percussion 1 – 3 Roto Toms)

The final section is where the group can really create a bit of “magic” through their musicianship, developing the texture of the work. There is a few suggestions, however it is up to the individual ensemble to interpret the instructions in the score to create your own piece of musical mystery.

But don’t take my word for it, have a listen for yourself to the complete work!

You cant really get an idea of this piece through the short examples I have shown you on this page so far, so I have decided to provide a complete recording, so that you can get a picture of what the music conveys. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the musical journey of “Mystical traveller”