Bachovich Music Publications
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Trios
- $20 - #0762 - Beall, Andrew: Rancho Jubilee for cajon trio [7 min.] (includes 3 parts and score)
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Rancho Jubilee is the name of a Dominican restaurant on my corner in Washington Heights. It’s fun décor and lively atmosphere mixed with Latin and Caribbean influences provided a nice setting for this--what is most likely the first of its kind--trio for Cajons. Cajon is a Spanish word, meaning Box. The instrument originated in Peru and later became popular in Spanish Flamenco music. Because of the wire strings extending across the Cajon, it has a fantastic sound, much like a drumset, with “snare” and “bass”. In the piece itself, I’ve taken several key rhythmic motives and spread them over a variety of contexts as well as used basic rudiments (such as the paradidle, double-paradiddle, and pardiddlediddle) and juxtaposed them into syncopated rhythms throughout. Besides standard techniques, the different timbre ideas include knocking on the Cajon’s side with knuckles, knocking on the side with the heel of the foot, brushing the surface of the Cajon with fingers and nails, brushing the performer’s leg, and a fist pound directly in the center of the Cajon. My last day writing was spent at Rancho Jubilee, and I am pleased to pay tribute to this restaurant, which continues to be a consistent sanctuary for composing and orchestrating. The trio was commissioned by Drew W. Johnson and premiered at the University of South Carolina. audio samplevideo samplesShot on location in NYC, courtesy of Tom Schwartz and LP Live performance at the 2010 PAS NYC "Weekend of Percussion" |
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Roe-Sham-Beau is a trio for un-pitched percussion that is based on the West-African rhythm Abekwa. This pattern is present throughout the work, used as support, interjection, and at times the primary focus. The instrumentation and themes are not strictly African. Rather, the rhythm is used to create motivic and timbral contrasts between the Abekwa ostinato and the thematic material played against it. |
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Juggernaut is a trio for un-pitched percussion based on a concept of “unison variation”. The primary theme stays rhythmically constant throughout but is varied through the drums (pitches) and combinations that play the theme to give it a slightly different character with each appearance. The piece is essentially a Rondo with the “A” theme book-ending sections that feature different players with a stark timbral and rhythmic contrast to the theme. The title implies the ideal feel of the piece; a constant and driving momentum. |
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Maleza incorporates elements of world percussion and urban beats into a two movement through-composed jam. The drum & bass based opening is followed by a commentary on Abakua and Rumba beats, both of Afro-Cuban origin, which are constantly reshaped by color and rhythmic shifting. The ending of the piece quotes on the agogo bells a chant for Eleggua the West African deity of destiny and crossroads. Eleggua is the one that opens all paths in life. Maleza is the Spanish word for forest or wilderness. It is a piece that has an intense rhythmic drive and a very colorful sonic landscape. It was premiered by the NYU Percussion Ensemble.
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For me, the world of percussion instruments has been an open door to a vast array of sonic explorations. Very often this door leads me to the kitchen or a warehouse store nearby. (AL) Listen to a sample |
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Calabash was composed with the symphonic percussionist in mind for children's outreach concerts, percussion ensemble concerts, or section master classes. For the collegiate percussionist, who is practicing those many hours of bass drum and cymbals, it can be a chamber music or recital piece. The piece is dedicated to Michael Bull, Herbert Flower and Ernest Muzquiz members or former members of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. They not only are my former teachers, conductors and friends, but also are the pioneers of presenting master classes on how the United States Marine Band percussion section plays marches. The piece can also be performed with two players with one player playing both bass drum and cymbal attachment. This piece can be played as a stand alone piece or can be combined with Rud-O-Meister. |
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This piece is dedicated to two of the most famous members of the United States Marine Band: Ollie Zinsmeister and Charlie Owen. During any practice session spent with Ollie, he would demonstrate how the Marine Band percussion section would play marches and the many unwritten traditions that he felt gave the percussion section its unique sound. For example, the stick clicks in the Rud-O-Meister solo, although somewhat different, were inspired by Sousa's marches The Thunderer and Semper Fidelis. Ollie also was careful to mention to play flams when the performer sees quarter notes to thicken the texture. Since the Marine Band has been playing closed rolls in marches at least since 1892 when John Phillip Sousa was the director, this solo gives the performer a chance to play a few open rolls. Charlie Owen and Ollie Zinsmeister-while in the band and throughout their lives- were the closest of friends. They are remembered together in Rud-O-Meister. |
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Three Marimbas is my first composition that combines the defining features of my two, favorite classical composers, Steve Reich and Philip Glass. There are three large sections in this work, the first of which utilizes Glass's additive process on the composite rhythm of an eighth-note and two sixteenth-notes ("1 and a"). The second utilizes a modified, block-additive process commonly found in Reich's chamber works. The final section has two different ways of using the phasing process of Reich. In the first part, there is a constant 5/8 melody in which the downbeat gets shifted as the accompaniment arbitrarily extends its groove by one sixteenth-note. The second and final part of the piece conversely has the melodic voices arbitrarily displace their downbeats, while the accompaniment stays in a constant 6/8 pattern. Since both melodic voices do not have the same rhythm, each time displacement occurs, a completely new composite rhythm and melody result. |
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Trio was commissioned in 2002 by the New York Philharmonic Percussion section. It is written in a funk-influenced rudimental style and features each player in turn as a soloist, backed by a groove-based snare and floor tom ostinato pattern. |
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Board Games is a crowd-pleasing piece for three players performing on wooden bards (with metal-tipped golf gloves). It highlights visual effect and is influenced by Latin rhythms. |
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Spiral was originally composed in 2002 for the High Street Percussion Ensemble. The work is two continuous movements of contrasting style. The first is composed for unpitched percussion in which the ensemble trades various rhythmic figures. This cycling of these rhythms creates a melodic line over the undercurrent of percussion. The second movement is a slow development of a melody primarily on pitched percussion instruments. This movement is composed as a minimalist work in which small subtle changes in texture/melody occur over long periods of time. |