Cheung-Nian3-BD (Solo Version)

Nian3 is scored for solo bass drum. It is preceded by Nian2, which is scored for 6 drums and 6 cymbals/gongs. In Nian3, I wanted to experiment with expressing musical/artistic depth through a limited palette of instrumental color. This piece compositionally/technically works on any drum. I just personally prefer the depth and resonance of a bass drum. Like Nian2, which shares the same rhythmic subject, Nian3 shows Asian musical influences on the surface, but the core of the music is quite deeply rooted in western musical structure. For instance, measure 19-57 is built on a 4 voice canon of the main rhythmic subject.

This piece is dedicated to the memory of my father-in-law Yasuo Daimo.
- Pius Cheung

Number of players: 1
Difficulty: Intermediate

Instrumentation: Bass Drum