for four tenor trombones and four toms.

difficult. employs a wide range from the trombones and difficult rhythms from everybody.

premiered at the boston conservatory on 14 april 2000 by wes hopper, chris desrocher, meegan mccaffrey, karna england on trombones and alfred marra, gretchen hary, brian eisert, amanda legner on percussion.

Many of my ideas come when I'm not actually trying to think of them, and this piece is the result of that kind of situation. I don't remember what inspired the piece; I only remember walking through the alley behind The Boston Conservatory when I got the idea to surround the audience in Seully Hall with drums and trombones playing very loudly. I was warned against evoking the "fight-or-flight" response in the audience members with an auditory assault from behind, but this was really the effect I was looking for. Many people seek out visceral thrills; why not in the concert hall, too? I wanted something raucous to finish off my recital and I had wanted to write an antiphonal work for quite some time, as well. The piece has four sections delineated by four large-ratio polyrhythms. In slightly less non-composerspeak, that means that the entrances of the instruments are spaced out according to specifc ratios, in this case being 32:25, 28:25, 24:25, and 16:25. These ratios are not meant to be audible; instead, they serve as a way of bringing structure to the piece and creating rhythmic tension.

ca. 7'

2000.

performance history:

14 April 2000. Seully Hall, The Boston Conservatory. Wes Hopper, Meagan McCaffrey, Chris Desrocher, and Karna England, trombones; Brian Eisert, Amanda Legner, Gretchen Hary, and Alfred Marra, percussion.