The Floor is Lava-SAMPLE

PROGRAM NOTES

One of my childhood games I enjoyed playing was climbing all over the furniture pretending the floor was lava. Somehow I got away with this without destroying anything or causing too much bodily harm.

Written entirely for accessory percussion instruments (sometimes referred to as “toys”), this piece acts as a musical representation of that childhood game with a running path of sixteenth notes that is the path over all the lava. Breaks in the sixteenth-note line represent the occasional “failure” of falling into the lava.

—Brian Nozny

PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS

Dynamic contrast is the key to this piece so that the running sixteenth-note line doesn’t overtake the other more rhythmically interesting parts.

Feel free to thin out the number of players as needed throughout the piece.

Here are some examples of ways in which you could adjust this piece to fit your own needs:

• Placing repeats in places to extend the length of the piece

• Expanding or reducing the number of players in various sections to reflect the dynamics or form of the work

• Opening up sections of a piece over which students or guest artists may improvise

• Having players change instruments within their given family as the piece progresses

• Adjusting the form of the work to start big, small, or however best fits the performance

PLAYERS AND INSTRUMENTATION

The Floor Is Lava requires 4 or more players with the following instrumentation suggestions:

1. Resonant metals - Instruments in this group might include:

• Triangle (mounted or held in one hand by a clip)

• Mounted finger cymbals

• Brake drum

• Bell plate

• Cymbal

• Cowbell or almglocken

• Sleigh bells played like a shaker

2. Drum-like - Instruments in this group might include:

• Tambourine

• Pandeiro

• Tambourim

• Riq

3. Shaker-esque - Instruments in this group might include:

• Maracas

• Egg shakers

• Shekere

• Caxixi

4. Wooden - Instruments in this group might include:

• Mounted claves

• Woodblock

• Wooden plank

• Individual temple blocks

SUGGESTED MINIMUM SETUP

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