False Awakening (Percussion Quintet)

Also known as a “double dream,” a “dream within a dream,” or “nested dream,” False Awakenings are usually vivid dreams in which you mistakenly feel like you’ve woken up, to only realize this too was a dream once you are fully awake. This quintet for 4 keyboards & percussion is meant to be an individualistic experience, leaving the listener to decide what this dream entails, and what it may mean.

Genre: Percussion Ensemble | # of Players: 5
Level: Medium Difficult | Duration: 6:30

Instrumentation
Marimba 1 (4.5-octave)
Marimba 2 (4.5-octave)

Percussion: Snare Drum, Multi/Kick Bass Drum [laid flat], Cymbals (Sizzle, Crash, Ride, Splash), Glockenspiel

Vibraphone 1
Vibraphone 2

Program Notes
Also known as a “double dream,” a “dream within a dream,” or “nested dream,” False Awakenings are usually vivid dreams in which you mistakenly feel like you’ve woken up, to only realize this too was a dream once you are fully awake.

Throughout False Awakening, we experience many different emotions: some of security, and some of uncertainty. Like a dream, the piece begins with no preparation. There is no recollection of how we arrived, we are just there. Slowly more instruments join, giving more clues as to our surroundings, until all instruments are playing, solidifying our place in the dream.

The middle of the piece, marked Astray, symbolizes the sensation we get during a dream – not knowing if our surroundings are real or not. The next section brings a sense of relief through a steady pulse and long-form phrasing that leads us to feel more secure, as if we are waking from our dream. This security is short-lived with building rhythmic and tonal dissonance, which comes to an abrupt halt. We then fall back into a daze, as if still dreaming, wondering if we were really awake. Finally, the piece concludes with a reprise of the tonality and long phrases, proving that we are truly awake. This piece is meant to be an individualistic experience, leaving the listener to decide what this dream entails, and what it may mean.

False Awakening was commissioned by T. Adam Blackstock and the Troy University Percussion Ensemble for their New Literature Showcase Concert at the 2019 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.