Program Notes
Places to Play In and Pray In is a
setting, for four percussionists, of a short text by
American
naturalist John Muir. The text is as follows:
"Everybody needs beauty as well as
bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and cheer
and give strength to body and soul alike."
The rhythms of the piece are based on
the rhythms of this text as spoken, and the players are also
asked to
speak during the performance. The text is broken into four
phrases, each of which becomes the
basis for a section of the piece.
The first section features a soloist on the toms and all four
players
speaking short fragments of the text. The second section
is for four pairs of claves. The third section features
an
improvising soloist on hand drums and another player speaking the text
phrase by phrase.
The final section is played on nothing but
drums, with one player as soloist on timbales.
The instrumentation
of this piece is drawn from the variety of percussion instruments made
out of
wood, bamboo, gourd and skin (drums). Metal
instruments were excluded in order to
accomplish a naturalistic
sound that would reflect the earthy nature of the text.
The piece was premiered and recorded by the Talujon Percussion Ensemble.
The total performance time is approximately 10 minutes.