Our Reluctance is Overstated

for six timpanists (2009); for six glockenspiels (2009)

Of the many good reasons to write for percussion, one has always stuck out to me: percussionists can perform rudimentary materials continuously for long periods of time. The gestures of “Our Reluctance is Overstated,” are as straight forward as they get – single strokes and double strokes. And yet they can be combined to remarkable effect, belying their humble binary origins. Still this music is not without difficulty. It lies mostly in the willingness of the performers to persevere and also to hear beyond the clarity of their parts to something considerably less certain. This composition was originally written for six timpanists and was commissioned by the Shsk’h online record label (shskh.com).

The version below is a performance for six glockenspiels, which I arranged for the Mantra Percussion Ensemble.

[audio:Reluctance_Glockenspiels.mp3]