percussion compositions of kristen shiner mcguire
(KSM Pub. – write to composer) Program Notes on pages following compositions
MARIMBA
Juniper (Kendor Music) - Intermediate 4 mallet solo, including ostinato/melody combinations and a rolled section. Similar difficulty to Yellow After the Rain.Advanced H.S., early college, for recitals and juries. 5’ 15".Says world reknown marimba virtuoso, Keiko Abe, about Juniper: "This piece reflects the goodness of marimba and has natural music from the very heart. The beginners will appreciate this piece as this is beneficial for them."
Colors of Earth and Sea
(Media Press Inc.) – Advanced 4 mallet solo in two movements. Includes some one-handed rolls; some power chops needed as well. Contemporary tonal piece with a Japanese influence. Challenging yet accessible solo recital piece. 8’.Two by Two : nine duets for two mallet percussion (Kendor Music). Levels II-IV
great for young percussion performances and sight reading for college students
PERCUSSION PLUS
Three Pieces for Bass Clarinet and Marimba (Media Press Inc) – Advanced duet in three movements: "A Fine Weave" (chromatic/interlocking parts); "Gotta Gig(ue)" (modal/odd-changing meters); "Epilogue" (modal/adagio). Rhythmically challenging for the bass clarinetist; excellent for working on ensemble playing. Single movements also suitable for performance. 11’ 30"
Narayama for percussion and voice. (KSM Pub.) Advanced duet for multiple percussion (vibraphone, bass drum, triangle, wind chimes, claves, woodblock, brake drum or cowbell, maraca played by singer) and soprano. Based on a Japanese folk song, sung in Japanese (easy pronunciations in English). Melodies/rhythms taken from traditional Japanese musical forms. Contemplative to fiery (bass drum played with wooden dowels like taiko). 7’ 40"
PERCUSSION ENSEMBLES
Please Pass The Beats! (or What An Ugly Vegetable) (Kendor Music) – An entertaining Intermediate/Advanced quintet for percussionists surrounding the audience. Small setups per player – one drum, one accessory, and one bowl gong or other ringing metalic sound. (bongos, snare drum, med. tom, large tom, bass drum, wood block, suspended cymbal, tambourine, brake drum; 5 bowl gongs or other). Comedic in spots; uses vocalizations along with instruments. Audiences love sitting in the middle as the rhythms/voices travel around them. Rhythmically easy per player; timing is challenging with players separated. 15’
‘Dis Is How Her Songo , drumset quartet. (KSM Pub. or ReallyGoodMusic.com). Intermediate/Advanced quartet for two half (no toms) and two five piece drumsets. Only high high, splash, and ride cymbals needed per set; one cowbell per player. Based on the songo, this energetic piece presents a great opportunity to feature female drummers, and may be played by anyone. Written for the Women’s Percussion Project 2002. Ernest Muzquiz, copyist. 7’ 45’’
Celestial Welcome, percussion octet written for Nazareth College President Daan Baveman. Premier performance October 2005.
Dedicated to Dr. Everett Gates.
. Level V, joyful/peaceful/celebratory opening piece.
Marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, chimes, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, crash cymbals, tam tam.
Caboo for the Maelstrom Percussion Ensemble (manuscript/slated for Kendor Music). Quartet with cajon, ankle shakers, cowbells, graded small drums, temple blocks, tom tom, slapstick. Level VI, Lou Harrison type sound; based on groups of five.
TIMPANI
Declaration, Song, and Dance for solo timpani (Ludwig Music). Advanced timpani solo in three movements: "Declaration" (moto perpetuo); "Song" (pedalled melody and accompaniment); "Dance" (syncopated set of grooves including playing on bowls, rims, center of head). Very popular for percussion recitals. 3’ 10" / 3’ / 3’ 30"
MULTIPLE PERCUSSION
Let’s Get This Over With! (KSM Pub.). A complete orchestral audition in about two minutes. Multiple percussion solo written for John Beck. Semi-comedic piece for drumset, glockenspiel, triangle, tambourine, and cowbell. 2’ 10"
FOR YOUNG PERCUSSIONISTS BY KENDOR MUSIC
Mixolydia – Beginning mallet solo (level II) for any mallet instrument in the mixolydian and dorian modes. Utilizes independence between hands. 2’ 15"
Blue Lagoon – Beginning mallet duet (level II) for bells/xylo or xylo/xylo that includes a short improvisation section using the blues scale. Good for learning jazz rhythmical concepts as well. 3’ 25"
Re-Action – Beginning percussion quartet (level III). Calls for four graded drums and four accessory instruments (one each per player); guiro, ratchet, vibraslap, cabasa. Good for counting skills, dynamic contrast, and experience with accessories. No rolls or rudiments. 2’ 30"
SELECTED COMPOSITIONS OF KRISTEN SHINER MCGUIRE
PROGRAM NOTES
Variations on An Old Irish Blessing for solo marimba – The original piece is by Denes Agay. I remember singing this song in concert choir at music camp. I loved the melody and harmony, and ended up improvising around what I remembered singing. I think I started writing this when I was in Japan studying with Keiko Abe, 1980-1981. The performance is from a marimba a recital I gave in Howard Hanson Hall at Eastman during my first year as a graduate student, 1981.
Swamp Gas – this is a drumset solo that contains improvisation I wrote to be performed on a Maelstrom Percussion Ensemble concert at the Tralf in Buffalo. The recording was made on 2/24/02, with our drummer, Ted Reinhardt, playing stick (bass). The theme/groove was developed from playing along with Swamp Stomp by Steve Smith. Previously I had taken a drumset lesson with Jamey Haddad, and he suggested I find something I love to play as the only means of developing my own voice. I found the zydeco groove!
‘Dis Is How Her Songo (ReallyGoodMusic) – This drumset quartet was written for the Women’s Percussion Project in 2002 for a concert at Fredonia in early November. Kay Stonefelt organized the group and concert. Janet Pemberton, Rebecca Kite, Kay, and I premiered this piece at that concert. This recording is one I made with my students at Nazareth College in 2002: Andrew Mark, Adam Peck, and Nicole Siniscarco. I learned the songo pattern primarily from Steve Houghton’s book/cd, Drums In The Rhythm Section, track 25. My compositional process was recording myself improvising on the songo and extracting and sculpting material into a cohesive piece from these improvisations.
Juniper for solo marimba (Kendor Music) – This grew out of improvising on Keiko Abe’s Frogs. The original title was "Frogs II" and I changed it to Juniper. I have a good friend, Valerie Talbot, who took on the name Juniper as her professional dancing name around the time I was writing this. The playful character of the music reflects Valerie’s dancing style as well as a natural setting. It is designed to provide an intermediate 4 mallet work to our literature – an area that needs expanding for high school and college marimbists.
Three Pieces for Bass Clarinet and Marimba (Media Press)– I wrote this in 1982 while I was a graduate student at Eastman; I had the privelege of studying with Samuel Adler at the time. I wanted to explore the sound possibilities between these 2 wooden instruments. Movement I, A Fine Weave, interlaces intricate musical lines and gestures between the marimba and bass clarinet. Gotta Gig(ue) is a "jig" of sorts using changing meters with a dance-like quality. Epilogue is quieter and more reflective and utilises the legato possibilities on each instrument. This performance, as announced on the cd, is a live performance at the Hochstein School Of Music in Rochester around 1996 with Nancy Boone on bass clarinet. The premier performance was at the Eastman School for my Master’s Performer’s Degree recital in 1982 with Jon Friedrichs on bass clarinet.
When for flute, cello and piano – This trio is unusual for me because it contains no percussion. I dedicated this to my father, who was a wonderful woodwind player, among many other talents. I remember giving him his personal copy of the score while he was in the hospital recuperating from a heart attack. The recording is the premier at Eastman (by fellow students) in 1981. I think the composition date is also 1981.
Narayama for soprano and multiple percussion – I was greatly influenced by traditional Japanese music when I was studying marimba with Keiko Abe in Japan; so when I returned to the States and started graduate school at Eastman, this came out in my percussion writing. This piece is actually based on a Japanese folk song, Narayama (meaning Nara Mountain), the text of which says:
"To love somebody is suffering, said I to the mountain/I know that to love someone is painful, yet still I love and suffer for it./In ancient times, too, lovers loved and longed to hear the voices of their loved ones/ Now on the path of Nara mountain I let my tears fall."
I have used text painting in the use of percussion, and have included elements of taiko drumming, koto music, Japanese folk singing, and stylized percussion from Noh and Kabuki theatre. This recording was made in room 902 at Eastman with Monica Roberts, soprano, in 1982. We also performed this for my Performer’s Certificate audition, which I won. Narayama has been performed only one other time at Nazareth College in the winter of 2002 as a part of a women composer’s recital.
Colors of Earth and Sea for solo marimba (Media Press) – This two movement work (Earth and Sea/Earth ) was also highly influenced by my study of Japanese marimba music while in Japan. It utilises idiomatic left hand ostinati and one handed rolls, and is supposed to be evocative of the earth and sea elements. This recording is from my Master’s recital in 1982, and was composed between 1981 and 1982 after returning from Tokyo.
Declaration, Song, and Dance for solo timpani (Ludwig) – It is amazing to me that my most widely known/played work is one that I wrote during undergraduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign in 1978 when I was a Junior Percussion Performance major studying with Tom Siwe. I was practicing for a timpani lesson and was experimenting with sounds and techniques, and this piece grew out of that exploration. Declaration is a moto perpetuo movement; Song uses a rather difficult melody and accompaniment combination; and Dance is an array of dance rhythms and timbres, including playing with fingers, playing on the bowl/head, and using the wooden end of the mallets.
Not included on ksm's cd, but available on videotape:
Please Pass The Beats! (Or What An Ugly Vegetable!) (KSM Music) – This percussion quintet was written in 1988 for the Nazareth College Percussion Ensemble. It is humerous, and employs vocal phrases (like "please pass the beats!") along with percussion. The performers are stationed around the audience so that the rhythms travel around the listeners. I was influenced in this case by a piece I did at the U of I in Tom Siwe’s Percussion Ensemble – Herophonie V by Taira, which used vocal sounds for percussive and musical energy. Beats is designed for an intermediate level college group with more accessible rhythms than Taira’s quite challenging work.
I also remember going to hear the Strasbourg Percussion Ensemble perform in a large church while I was in undergraduate school – I was so impressed by the amazing array of sounds travelling around me and wanted to recreate this effect.
