CHRONOMOSAIC

-composed October 1993
-1994/2003 Ithaca College Percussion Ensemble, Gordon Stout, director
-1996 Eastman Percussion Ensemble, John Beck, director
-1996 University of South Florida Percussion Ensemble, Rob McCormick, director
-1998 Wichita State University Percussion Ensemble, J.C. Combs, director

Chronomosaic for five percussionists

As the title implies, this piece seeks to create a mosaic of sounds, laid into time. I had the idea of writing a work that explored the notion of interlocking “tiles” of rhythm and color, somewhat akin to the way African percussion music employs interlocking patterns. The piece is largely comprised of a small number of rhythmic cells of different lengths which overlap and interact with each other in continuously changing ways. All of these cells or patterns have a common feature in that they are all rhythmic palindromes–they produce they same rhythm whether played forward or backwards. This creates great ambiguity as to what meter is actually being articulated. Although the piece is notated wholly in 9/8, one really cannot discern this meter until the final bars. Chronomosaic is an extremely difficult piece, owing to the interlocking nature of the parts. Percussionists seem to enjoy it, however. The performance recorded here is by the Eastman Percussion Ensemble, John Beck conducting.