Inside the Shining Stone

Blake Tyson

General Info

Year: 2008
Duration: c.
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Tyson
Cost: Score and Parts - $14.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Instrumentation

Multiple Percussion - bass drum, two tom-toms, bongos, crotales (low octave C, Db, Eb, F, Gb)

Program Notes

Inside the Shining Stone by Blake Tyson is a NEW piece for multiple-percussion inspired by the sacred spaces of ancient Egypt and conceived to be performed in the sacred places of Norway. It was composed in 2008 and revised in 2011.

Not long after Josh Knight asked me to compose a work for multiple-percussion, I was invited to perform in a series of concerts in Norway. Knight, the commissioner of the work, performed the American premier of Inside the Shining Stone at the University of Oklahoma in 2010 following Blake Tyson's world premier of the work in Norway.

The piece is made up of traditional rhythms that are layered, transformed, broken apart and reassembled. This represents the idea of reassembling the past from fragments of ruins. Although there are often three voices existing at once, no more than two are heard simultaneously. While the piece is structured, the structure is sometimes incomplete or "incorrectly" assembled, just as ancient ruins sometimes are. I also attempt to create a blurring of pulse and time. This is representative of the feeling one has when standing in and around the pyramids, and of the overwhelming power of history.

The "shining stone" is a reference to the original outer layers of the pyramids. Covered with white limestone, the pyramids would shine in the sun and glow in the light of the moon.

Recent Performances

To submit a performance please join the TEK Percussion Database

Works for Percussion by this Composer

A Ceiling Full of Stars – Percussion Ensemble (8 players)
A cricket sang and set the sun – Marimba
Anubis – Marimba
Cloud Forest – Marimba with Percussion Quartet
Firefish – Marimba
Inside the Shining Stone – multiple Percussion
Lost Mountain Sunrise – Marimba
Moonrise – Percussion Ensemble (7 players)
Not far from here – Marimba
Ursa Conculium - Multiple Percussion; Trombone
Vagabond of Light – percussion trio
Vertical River – duet for Marimba and vibraphone
The Wind That Turns the World – Marimba with Percussion Quartet