Gottry-Leaves Fell Playfully (SP)-2-4M

I have a large cottonwood tree in my backyard and every winter, sometime around the first of December, I look out to find a bed of leaves that virtually hides any evidence of grass. Raking it up is a project! However, with two young children at home, those massive piles of leaves quickly turn into a playful attraction. Leaves Fell Playfully is the dance of those many leaves as they make their one and only journey to the ground. A light breeze, the opening passing sixteenth-note gesture, releases the leaves from their tree as the dance begins. The melodic content moves freely through several major and minor key centers as the dance passes between members of the quartet. Eventually the lower marimba voices take over the forward motion of the piece with an undulating line as the leaves begin to pile on the ground. With a final gust from the wind, the original dance resumes as the remaining leaves fell playfully to the ground. This quartet is playable on two marimbas and requires two mallets for each player throughout.
- Josh Gottry

Number of Players: 4
Level of Difficulty: Grade 4
Instrumentation:

Player I:Marimba

Player II:Marimba

Player III:Marimba

Player IV:Marimba

Josh Gottry's (b. 1974) first composition, Irrelevant for solo marimba, earned him an ASCAP Young Composer Competition grant in 1995. Since that time, he has been selected for seven ASCAP Plus awards and has created over thirty published works that have been performed extensively at universities, junior high and high schools, and multiple national conferences. Mr. Gottry earned his BM in Percussion Performance at Northern Arizona University and his MM in Composition at Arizona State University. He is currently an adjunct professor of music at Chandler-Gilbert Community College, teaching percussion and composition as well as courses in music history and theory. Additionally, he maintains a private percussion studio and performs regularly throughout Arizona as a soloist and participant in various local ensembles.

Mr. Gottry is a member of the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) and the American Society of Composers, Authors, & Publishers (ASCAP). He is a clinician for Mike Balter Mallets, Pro-Mark Sticks, and Yamaha Percussion. Mr. Gottry served six terms as the Vice President for the Arizona State Chapter of PAS and is currently a member of the PAS Education and Composition Committees. He has been published several times in Percussive Notes and presented a keyboard percussion clinic at PASIC 2007.