Percussion Ensemble
Videos

Yunmen is a work for four percussionists, inspired by the life of the famous 9th century Buddhist master of the same name. The work is split into two main sections: the first, entitled “a thick haze,” is a long recitative, a majestic introduction of rhythmic and textural themes to be explored later in the piece. The second section, entitled “Gate of the Clouds,” is the first third of a long minimalist process, wherein rhythmic rows of different lengths tumble over and across one another, each keeping the same steady tempo, but with percolating accents bubbling up within the texture. Upon points of intersection, where the performers start their rhythmic rows on the same beat, an immediate peak in volume occurs, followed by a decrescendo, to blend back within the texture. This short excerpt comes from the second section, set to a 9/8 rhythmic mode.


"The 10" is a rhythmic journey through colors and textures, exploring 10-beat rhythmic cycles from across the glove with different combinations of instruments and techniques. Highly improvised by design, the piece allows the performers a significant amount of control and freedom in the execution and duration of the work. There are distinctly composed points of arrival, where the performers are required to perform a specific 10-beat on a pre-determined instrument(s), suggested by the composer, but ultimately determined by the performer. However, the manner in which the performers move from one preset rhythm to the next is left to the performer’s discretion.



Audio

Old Standard Percussion Group: TB, TB Road (T.J. Troy)
TB, TB Road is a percussive tour de force, and is constructed as a vehicle for extended solos through the exploration of complex rhythmic forms. The opening thematic statement is brief and concise, and quickly gives way to the first of three solo sections.

The solo sections are composed in a strict format, designed to provide contrasting accompaniment from 2 main voices: the vibraphone duet, set to a ¾ rhythmic cycle, acting as a nagma (repeating melody, used to accompany Tabla Solo in traditional Hindustani settings); and the frame drum duet, constructed out of long, compound rhythm cycles of alternating lengths.

A compound cycle is a remnant of archaic Arabic and Turkish composition techniques, where a composer, in an effort to set poetry to music, would alter or recompose pre-existing rhythmic modes (Arabic: iqaat) to satisfy the rhythmic flow of the poetry. Often, the composer would take several rhythms and attach them end to end, thereby creating a new, compound rhythm (Example: the 24-beat Turkish rhythm “Tchember” is made by stringing together a 4-beat rhythm called “Sufian” with a 20-beat rhythm called “Fahta.”).

For TB, TB Road, I constructed new rhythmic modes for the frame drum accompaniment based off of the polyrhythm 7:5:4:3. At any given time, the 2 frame drums are playing two of these rhythms off of one another (7:5, 5:3, 4:3, 7:4, etc); each of these rhythms are then strung end to end, creating compound rhythms of 105, 63, and 42 beats long. Each of these longer cycles are, in fact, compounded to create the longest cycle (63+42=105).

This piece utilizes Indian rhythmic development alongside Arabic and Turkish cyclic construction, combined with the aesthetic of a Western percussion ensemble, to create a new work in a completely new vernacular. The technical demands of this piece are large, and require a great deal of study and practice to truly master the forms. In this rendition, I perform each part myself, in an overdub fashion.

Old Standard Percussion Group: Great Western Railway (T.J. Troy)
Great Western Railway is a percussion quintet composed around a long polyrhythm of 7:5:4:3, constructing a repeating rhythmic cycle of 105 beats. With a set tempo of 120 bpm (beats per minute), each cycle takes approximately 52.5 seconds to complete. This long basic polyrhythm is performed on the low bass meru bars, designed by composer-instrument builder Kraig Grady. The additional instrumentation is comprised of contrasting colors of wood and metal origins; the rhythms and phrases performed on these instruments are created by “nesting” additional polyrhythms within the pockets of the large, 105-beat rhythm.

This excerpt shows one complete cycle, at the zenith of the piece’s development; each performer is performing gestures that metrically relate some element of the 7:5:4:3 polyrhythm back to the other players. In other words, one player’s gesture might relate as a triplet to another player, whereas that same gesture could relate as a quintuplet to a different player.

MESTO Percussion Ensemble: Firecracker (T.J. Troy)
This work was composed for the MESTO (Multi-Ethnic Star Orchestra) Percussion Ensemble, and features David Martinelli, Jamie Papish, and composer T.J. Troy. The work is intended to be a high-energy, encore-style piece: fast, furious, and fun! It explores the tonal possibilities of the tar (frame drum) through a special technique of double-stroke rolls.