Simple Objects

Louis Raymond-Kolker

General Info

Year of Published: 2025
Publisher: C. Alan Publications
Difficulty: Advanced
Duration: 00:06:00
Cost: Score and Parts - $52.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Instrumentation

Player 1: Triangle & Tambourine
Player 2: Hi-Hat & Ride Cymbal & Tambourine
Player 3: Tambourine
Player 4: 4 Concert Tom Toms & Snare Drum
Player 5: Timpani
Player 6: Glockenspiel
Player 7: Vibraphone 1
Player 8: Vibraphone 2
Player 9: Marimba 1
Player 10: Marimba 2
Player 11: Marimba 3
Player 12: Marimba 4

Program Notes

Sometime in 2018 or 2019, on a visit to the Sheldon Museum of Art at UNL, I overheard a typical (if unhelpful) comment about a piece of abstract art: “my grandkid could make that!” We, as percussionists, are used to hearing this sentiment, whether it’s directed at tambourine, triangle, drums, or even keyboards. As much as people toss this around as an insult, or a way to trivialize the percussion art form, they aren’t wrong. Basically anyone can play any of our instruments in some way or another. Steven Schick put it well: “Percussion instruments are, after all, simple objects: hit them and they will make a sound.” With all of this in mind, I wanted to write a piece to celebrate these instruments in their simplicity. The four featured parts are not saturated with rhythmically complex or otherwise virtuosic material. Rather, the percussionists playing triangle, tambourines, cymbals, and drums lead the composition by playing melodically with their unique timbres. The rest of the percussionists, in turn, color these melodies with pitch. To quote Schick again, “A cymbal, a gong, and a drum: these are simple objects and that’s a good thing. With simplicity comes intimacy, and with intimacy the strong sense of shared musical experience that many listeners feel when they hear percussion music.”

Works for Percussion by this Composer

Solo Works

Flowers and Foliage - Multiple Percussion
Restless Little Star - Vibraphone
The Shared Breath of the Earth - Timpani
Under A Hazy Moon - Steel Pan

Percussion Ensemble Works

A Vast Expanse - 2 Players
A World of Our Creation - 7 Players
Simple Objects - 12 Players
Tumble - 2 Players

Works for Percussion with Other Instruments

Numerologies - Violin & Tenor Pan
Summer Springs - Double Second & Piano