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Solo Piano for Percussion (Download)

inspired by "El Mar" by Caitlin Ireland

Christopher D. Walker

Level: Medium

Duration: 5:00

Release Date: 2012

Product ID : TSPCS-31DL

Price: $15.00

Item #: TSPCS-31DL

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Description

Solo Piano for Percussion is an inventive piece by composer, Christopher D. Walker. It features a solo percussionist using various colorful techniques on a grand piano such as playing the strings with mallets, sliding mallets along the strings, using the fingers directly on the strings, playing the instrument on the keys, and utilizing various sostenuto effects.

Abstract in nature, it paints an audible landscape to reflect the included poem by Caitlin Ireland, El Mar (The Sea). This creative piece would be a unique and refreshing selection for percussionists to showcase their versatility while providing audiences something unexpected and soothing.

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

Instrumentation

Piano (performed with lid open)*

*A functioning sostenuto pedal is needed.

Reviews

American composer Henry Cowell coined the term “string piano” in an effort to describe the use of extended performance techniques employed directly to the piano strings. Amidst a multitude of possibilities, the most popular of these techniques include plucking, scraping, sweeping, and producing harmonics. Following in the footsteps of Cowell (and other notable composers like George Crumb, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Toru Takemitsu), Christopher Walker offers this five-minute solo in which a player uses a grand piano as a percussion instrument, and that requires sensitivity to musical touch, feel, and pacing.

Inspired by the poem El Mar (The Sea) by Caitlin Ireland, Walker requires the percussionist to musically evoke sounds reminiscent of the vast and ever-changing nature of a large body of water. By employing soft mallets rolled on the bottom strings and rubber mallets rubbed across higher strings, performers will be able to produce the “eerie and haunting” sounds asked for by the composer. For these and other performance requirements, Walker includes copious performance notes that clearly explain the wide range of notational devices used in the printed music.

Even with most of the melodic material performed through traditional piano methods (i.e., using the keys), this piece will challenge a percussionist’s approach with regard to musical movements, gestures, and appropriate musical use of the hands directly on an instrument. While some might argue that this solo is suited more for a pianist, percussionists may surprise themselves with how much “music” they will learn from an exploration of this work.

–Joshua D. Smith
Percussive Notes
Vol. 51, No. 3, May 2013

Description

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

Instrumentation

Piano (performed with lid open)*

*A functioning sostenuto pedal is needed.

Reviews

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