Houston Strokes

A challenging 4-movement work containing fast and fiery outer movements, a reflective and lyric second movement, and a third movement that is a gentle nocturne. In all the movements, the emphasis is on the keyboard percussion instruments.

Genre: Percussion Ensemble | # of Players: 12
Level: Medium Difficult | Duration: 14:00

Instrumentation
Percussion 1 (orchestra bells, crotales [upper octave], soprano steel pan, 3 suspended cymbals, 2 congas)
Percussion 2 (xylophone, 2 small triangles, orchestra bells)
Percussion 3 (xylophone, sandpaper blocks)
Percussion 4 (3-octave vibraphone)
Percussion 5 (3-octave vibraphone)
Percussion 6 (4-octave marimba, triangle, suspended cymbal)
Percussion 7 (4-octave marimba, triangle)
Percussion 8 (4-octave marimba, China cymbal, triangle)
Percussion 9 (4.5-octave marimba, sizzle cymbal, triangle)
Percussion 10 (5-octave marimba, 2 prayer stones, triangle)
Percussion 11 (4 concert toms, triangle, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, rainstick, 2-octave crotales, chimes, bongos)
Percussion 12 (5 timpani, 2 djembes, suspended cymbal)

Program Notes
Houston Strokes was commissioned by the Percussion Ensemble of the Moores School of Music of the University of Houston, Blake Wilkins, director. The result was a challenging 4-movement work containing fast and fiery outer movements, a reflective and lyric second movement, and a third movement that is a gentle nocturne. In all the movements, the emphasis is on the keyboard percussion instruments.