Performed on the marimba by Oliver Maranda at Chapelle de Bon Pasteur in Montreal, December 2005, as part of a workshop hosted by the Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal. This workshop constituted the first stage in my participation in the ECM’s Generation 2006 project.
Walking Music
2004,
4’ 45”.
For mbira or marimba.
Program notes
This piece was originally written to be played on a mbira, which is an African instrument consisting of metal tines attached to a gourd or box resonator. Since construction varies between instruments, the selection and tuning of pitches is unique for each instrument. “Walking Music” was composed for a particular instrument, and is therefore bound by a limited collection of pitches, progressing by gradually exploring this vocabulary. The surface rhythms of the work explore the interrelations between simple polyrhythms, while the large-scale structure uses additive processes to develop metrical groupings.
