Vestiges-SAMPLE

PROGRAM NOTES

A “vestige” is a trace of something that is disappearing or no longer exists. While I originally selected the title because of the unique nature of the word, I believe it also aptly describes what is happening throughout the piece. Much like memories, some motives persist while others evaporate.

It was important to me to create something that was both original to the percussion ensemble medium and that put me firmly out of my compositional comfort zone. As a result, I shied away from having a clear key center. (I’m a tonal sort of guy. What can I say?) I also opted to use as many non-standard sounds as I could. Fortunately, neither the lack of tonality nor the sound effects tax the musicians unnecessarily and instead result in an intriguing performance.

During the summer of 2022, I read Philip Glass’s memoir Words without Music and Steve Reich’s Conversations, and while doing so, I listened to a lot of their music. I am certainly not a minimalist composer, but I pretended to be one for this piece. Vestiges is the result of living in that extended literary and musical space.

Vestiges is written for two marimbas and two vibraphones, all of standard range, which should make the piece playable by most high school students. (Patience and diligence are required; a love for the more esoteric catalog of Radiohead is, however, optional.) Several alternative techniques—bowing, sharing of instruments, and even playing from the “wrong side” of the instrument—are intended to draw out as many sounds as possible.

Eric Rath

SUGGESTED SETUP

PLAYERS AND INSTRUMENTATION

Vestiges requires 4 players with the following instrumentation:

1. Vibraphone 1 + bow

2. Vibraphone 2 + bow

3. Marimba 1 (low A) + bow (shared w/ V1)

4. Marimba 2 (low A) + bow (shared w/ V2)

PERFORMANCE NOTES

• Two note clusters are prominent throughout: G, Ab, Bb, C and C, Db, Eb, F — G Locrian mode for those of you playing music theory trivia at home. This was not a mode I intended to use. I merely selected the clusters based on the feel in my hands when I played those notes.

• The first cluster (G, Ab, Bb, C, using mallets 3-1-2-4, respectively) represents almost 75 percent of the piece. In fact, 81 measures go by before a note is performed that is not in that cluster.

• There is one technique that was created for this piece. It is artfully referred to as a “thwop.” You achieve this by sliding the shaft of the left mallet across the marimba bar and punctuate it with a dead stroke in the right hand. Another technique that I’ve seen used very rarely is muting marimba bars with one hand while playing with the other. This creates an entire portion of the piece riffing off of what sounds can be created while muting/dampening and opening the vibration of the bar.

• The performers will be required to move around from one instrument to another and even play on the “wrong side” of the keyboard (from the accidentals side). The setup should be a square alternating between vibes and marimbas. Leave room for extra music stands, trap tables, and space between the instruments to pass through.

• Due to quick instrument changes and the usage of bows, I recommend using a good multi-purpose vibraphone mallet on both vibraph one and marimba.

• A minimum of two bows is required, but having as many as four might be valuable in some passages. Many of the bowed vibraphone passages have a strict length. Bow for as long as possible to sustain for as long as possible, but when the note value ceases, be sure to pedal up. Sounds come and go throughout this piece, so don’t forget to observe the ends of notes with the same care as the fronts of notes. There is a whole Radiohead thing present with parts fading in and out. Let’s all make Thom Yorke proud.

Level: Medium Approx. playing time: 5'20"

for the Keyboard Quartet Consortium, Michael Garcia, coordinator

VESTIGES

© 2024 Tapspace Publications, LLC (ASCAP). All rights reserved.

ERIC RATH

2

1

1 M 2 n p n & b b b ∑ ∑ ∑

1

2 n p n n p n C � �

¢ °

& b b b ‘ ‘ ‘ ( 4 ) ( 8 ) & b b b V 1 ( a c c i d e n t a l s si d e ) i m m e d i a t e l y d a m pe n w / LH

& b b b V 2 ( a c c i d e n t a l s si d e ) i m m e d i a t e l y d a m pe n w / LH

2

1

. . ( n o r m a l ) -5 7 5 8 5 9 6 0 & b b b ∑ ∑ & b b b ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ( 1 2 ) & b b b