Gravity (Falling)-SAMPLE

CLIF

for percussion ensemble and piano

PROGRAM NOTES

A typical skydive lasts five to six minutes, with approximately the first 50 seconds of that time spent in a free fall and then the remainder as the parachute ride down. It doesn’t sound like a long time, but I am told it is the longest 50 seconds of your life. Time will feel both slower and faster at the same instance. On a smaller scale, the first 15 seconds of this piece tries to capture that feeling. The piece starts with a couple of deep breaths, a brief free fall, and then a scenic ride down that shares both moments of peace and fear.

Gravity (Falling) was commissioned by Mr. Kennan Wylie and the Marcus High School Percussion Ensemble for the 2020 Texas Music Educators Association Centennial Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

—Clif Walker

PERFORMANCE NOTES

• Steel drum (in the Percussion 1 part) is optional. It may be substituted with a Malletstation (or similar) or omitted altogether.

• Instructions and/or stickings provided for a passage apply to all subsequent repeated or similar passages.

• Limited pedaling instructions are provided for vibraphones and piano, but generally pedaling is left to the discretion of the performers.

• In measures 50 and 55, the chimes player is to play with a drumstick across four accidentals at the same time by holding the drumstick horizontal and striking the chimes with the side of the stick.

• In the chimes part, when the instruction “w/ felt” is given, one may use a felt-covered chime hammer or a softer rawhide chime hammer to provide a gentler attack.

• In measures 52–54 and 57–60, the marimba players play a recurring phrase on snare drums. The rhythms of these phrases may be approximated, going from slower to faster as they diminuendo.

NOTATION KEY

PLAYERS AND INSTRUMENTATION

Gravity (Falling) requires 15 players with the following instrumentation:

1. Glockenspiel + tam-tam

2. Vibraphone 1

3. Vibraphone 2 + suspended cymbal

4. Chimes + 2 brake drums, EchoTree chimes (or mark tree)

5. Xylophone + crotales (2 octaves), rototom

6. Marimba 1 (low A) + water triangle, high snare drum

7. Marimba 2 (5-octave) + water triangle, med-high snare drum

8. Marimba 3 (low A) + water triangle, med-low snare drum

SUGGESTED SETUP

9. Marimba 4 (5-octave) + water triangle, low snare drum, 2 China cymbals, suspended cymbal

10. 5 Timpani

11. Piano

12. Percussion 1 Zil-bel, triangle, steel drum, congas (2), low woodblock, sizzle cymbal

13. Percussion 2 snare drum, ride cymbal, finger cymbals, med-low woodblock, 4 concert toms

14. Percussion 3 — bongos, ride cymbal, finger cymbals, med-high woodblock

15. Percussion 4 concert bass drum, tam-tam, high woodblock, slapstick

Commissoned by Kennan Wylie and the Marcus High School Percussion Ensemble for the 2020 Texas Music Educators Association Centennial Convention

GRAVITY (FALLING)