Canon Fodder (Download)

for percussion quartet

Chad Heiny

Level: Advanced

Duration: 9:20

Personnel: 4 players

State Lists: Florida

Release Date: 2019

Product ID : TSPCE19-032DL

Price: $44.00

Item #: TSPCE19-032DL

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Description

Chad Heiny’s Canon Fodder was written as a reflection on the current climate of our social, educational, and ecological systems, where untold damage is being done. In his own words, he “needed a way to get [his] wide range of feelings out.”

This unyielding quartet features a homogeneous instrumentation from player to player, each having two woodblocks and three graduated toms, giving the piece its sense of cohesion. Later in the piece, two players interact on a shared glockenspiel and resonant metals. The piece gets its name from the “canons” that are passed around the ensemble and are as visually compelling as they are musically compelling. It also has a thread of incessant “clock ticking” symbolizing that time remains universal and unflinching.

Cannon Fodder is dedicated to Brett William Dietz and Hamiruge, the LSU Percussion Group.

Use of this product is governed by the license terms outlined here.

Instrumentation

• Glockenspiel (shared between P2 and P3)

• 8 graduated woodblocks

• 12 graduated drums

• 12 graduated resonant metals

• 2 high pitched semi-resonant metals

Reviews

I am a sucker for simple ideas that successfully combine into a complex union. This 91⁄2-minute quartet delivers on that idea with unassuming figures that layer in patiently (in a canon) and coalesce at various times within the framework of three major sections. Present throughout the piece is a quarter-note pulse (like a ticking clock) at a speed of 174 bpm. In the beginning, the pulse is in the woodblocks and finishes on pipes and glockenspiel notes.

The piece opens with wood sounds acting as the motor with simple drum figures acting as the moving/melodic line. This drum melody is passed throughout the quartet with energy as each new rhythmic modification is introduced. The middle section has the players rolling on suspended tubes of resonant metal, again scored as a canon, which serves to transition to the high-energy ending section. The piece concludes with drum figures interlocking with pipe and bell figures to create longer phrases that are smooth and sustained while also feeling pointed and punctuated. The composer clearly understands the sonic nature of these instruments and has done a wonderful job combining them into a piece that is full of simple dialogue that reaps great aural rewards.

—Joshua D. Smith
Percussive Notes
Vol. 58, No. 2, April 2020