(page two) of Psychedelicacy - Ryan M. Fields [DIGITAL SET]

(page two of) Psychedelicacy is an energetic work for mallet quartet & drum set that’s sure to surprise you, carrying you from atonal chaos to tasty grooves and back again—with a pinch of ethereal ambiance for good measure.

Genre: Percussion Ensemble | # of Players: 5
Level: Medium Advanced | Duration: 4:50

Instrumentation
Score (8.5"x11" stapled booklet)
Marimba 1 (5-octave)
Marimba 2 (5-octave)
Vibraphone 1
Vibraphone 2
Drum Set

Program Notes
This piece was born from two separate ideas I had a day apart - the first, “page two,” was the thought that it would be funny to walk into a concert and hear a performance of a piece that sounded like it was missing the first and last pages— a piece that both starts and ends abruptly and feels like it ’s supposed to have something more. The second, “psychedelicacy,” was simple the idea that a piece would swap back and forth between being chaotic, confusing and hard to follow, and being groovy and “tasty.” Neither idea felt like it was robust enough for a full composition by itself, so I decided to combine them and this is the result.

– R.F.

Performance Notes
In order to sell the “page two” effect, the performers will need to be comfortable with a little play-acting. At the beginning of the performance, the keyboard players should make a big show of “accidentally” misplacing or dropping the first page of their music, while the oblivious drum-set player begins playing anyway. The other performers then enter as written, offset to create a feeling that they’re guessing at their entrance. The opening acting shouldn’t take terribly long , and don’t worry about feeling silly—it’s meant to be a little ridiculous.