Warp

Commissioned by the Auburn University Percussion Ensemble, Warp is for a large-scale percussion ensemble of 11 performers with an off-stage violin or flute. When I had the idea for the piece, I imagined it accompanying an animated short story describing the birth and death of the universe: from the Big Bang, to the formation of the sun, the planets, human beings, and eventually to a potential Big Crunch.

Genre: Percussion Ensemble | # of Players: 11+1
Level: Medium Difficult | Duration: 13:20

Instrumentation
Offstage Violin or Flute
Vibraphone 1
Vibraphone 2
Xylophone 1 + Bells, Field Drum, Large Metal Bowl w/ BBs
Xylophone 2 + Snare Drum
Marimba 1 (4-octave)
marimba 2 (4.3-octave)
Marimba 3 (5-octave)
Marimba 4 (5-octave)

Percussion 1
Concert Bass Drum, Low Woodblock, High Non-Resonant Metal, Medium Sizzle, Low Suspended, Anvil, Snare Drum, Gong, Chimes

Percussion 2
Concert Bass Drum, Low Woodblock, Medium Non-Resonant Metal, Low Sizzle, Medium Suspended, Lion's Roar, Wind Chimes, 2 Concert Toms, Triangle, 2 octaves Crotales

Program Notes
Commissioned by the Auburn University Percussion Ensemble, Warp is for a large-scale percussion ensemble of 11 performers with an off-stage violin or flute. When I had the idea for the piece, I imagined it accompanying an animated short story describing the birth and death of the universe: from the Big Bang, to the formation of the sun, the planets, human beings, and eventually to a potential Big Crunch.

Warp is constructed using various nested levels of geometric proportion, and the Fibonacci number series (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc.). From being 13 minutes in length, to the climax happening at 8 minutes, to the number of impacts in the beginning and end, geometric proportion dictates much of the structure and framework of the piece.

The performers are divided into two antiphonal choirs with mirrored instrumentation, much like Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.

Throughout Warp there is a “constant,” which is the speed of the 16th note at 160 beats per minute. This speed of note is present throughout the work, yet is represented in multiple time signatures and tempos through the regrouping of notes. Aside from the detailed story that goes with the music, my hope is that Warp can exist on its own, whether or not the underlying story is known.
—DR