Unrung
General Info
Year: 2015
Duration: c. 5:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Talking Rocks Press
Cost: Score and Parts - $30.00 | Score Only - $0.00
Instrumentation
Player I: Desk Bell, Bell Plate
Player II: Desk Bell, Bell Plate
Player III: Desk Bell, Bell Plate
Program Notes
I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of writing music for percussion in which the instrumentation is extremely limited. Not only does it make for a more portable/practical piece for the players, but it also forces me to explore every sonic possibility of the given instrument(s). In this case, I wanted to take a very familiar object (the desk bell) and construct a piece around the idea of sonic discovery. I imagined myself as someone who had never seen this object before, but knew that it was designed to produce sound in some manner. Is it meant to be scraped? struck? thrown against the wall?
Additionally, I wanted to use the desk bell as a metaphor for the moment of apprehension just before making a decision that can’t be taken back. Ringing that bell is a declaration that you need help from someone you don’t personally know and a form of publicly admitting some degree of personal limitation or vulnerability. Despite its small scale, this decision can still stir up a tiny bit of anxiety for some largely due to the fact that it can’t be taken back. In short, that bell can’t be unrung.[1]
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Recent Performances
To submit a performance please join the TEK Percussion Database
Works for Percussion by this Composer
A Man With a Gun Lives Here - Percussion Trio
A Watched Pot - Multiple Percussion, Electronics, (Optional Choreography)
Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control - Percussion Quartet, Saxophone Quartet
Land of the Living - Multiple Percussion (Cactus), Electronics
Left of the Dial - Multiple Percussion (Snare Drum), Electronics
Long Distance - Marimba/Vibraphone, Electronics
Long Distance (Concerto Version) - Marimba/Vibraphone, Wind Ensemble, Electronics
Looner Eclipse - Audience Participation - Balloons, Video
Mobbing Calls - Multiple Percussion, Flute
Profiles - Marimba/Vibraphone, Euphonium
Steam Man of the Prairies - Vibraphone, Clarinet, Electronics
Tacoma Narrows - Percussion Sextet
The Taos Hum - Timpani, Electronics
Unrung - Percussion Trio
Van Gogh From Space - Percussion Trio
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References