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When I first got the call from Philip Glass inquiring about my interest in writing a new percussion quartet to play alongside his own Perpetulum (in the Days and Nights Festival in Big Sur, California) I had to ponder over it for about 1.3 seconds before agreeing.

Thus began the exciting process of writing my first percussion quartet. One initial challenge was trying to write for a collective group of instruments with as much compatibility with Perpetulum as possible to make the live performance simpler.

Third Coast Percussion were to be performing the piece and we got in touch before I started writing to help work out the logistical side, which can get extremely complicated when you have four musicians constantly switching between many instruments. It becomes, by its very nature, a tightly choreographed performance.

As I wrote I was happy to tap into my many early percussion influences. As I had quite a bit of experience with both West African balafons (similar to a marimba) and Indonesian gamelan. (the metal orchestras of that region) you may notice a lot of those inspirations. The thing that both West African and Indonesian have in common is the five-note pentatonic scale which I use quite a bit. And the interlocking rhythms of the gamelan are also referred to throughout the movements.

When I was young and just getting interested in music in the 70’s I was exposed to quite of bit of Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison and, of course, Mr. Glass, as well as the extremely inventive and eccentric Harry Partch. Echoes of their influences surface from time to time throughout the course of the work.

When it comes down to it I am, at heart, attached to melody, or the idea of melody, so I did try and find motifs and melodies to use throughout each movement as well. This was always in the back of my mind while I wrote. And of course, as with my earlier Piano Quartet, I constantly wished I had just one or two more players... but that’s the beauty of quartets, and the challenge of working with set limitations.

However, in the end I tried to keep it fun and lively and to also find some balance with softer moments. It was a wonderful experience and I hope this is only the first of several attempts at writing a percussion quartet.

DE