Hollinden-Reckless P SP - Product Information
Reckless by Dave Hollinden for eight percussionists. This 8 minute piece was commissioned by Philip J. Mikula and the Victoria Memorial High School Percussion Ensemble and was premiered by them at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in 2004.
From the composer:
When I considered naming this piece Reckless, defined as a disregard for consequences or unthinking boldness, it seemed appropriate for two reasons. First, the score states that the performance should always be pushing forward, that the piece will suffer if the tempo is too slow, and that "While accuracy is necessary, there should be no feeling that the piece is being performed carefully." So I hoped the name Reckless would give even more encouragement to the performers to push themselves and bring an edge to the performance.
Second, when I started planning the music I had two very different ideas in mind, and was having trouble deciding which one to use. I was attracted to something I'd read about a remix artist that claims he mixes different pieces of music together without listening to them. So I decided to take my two ideas and mix them together, inserting other ideas more or less at random, sometimes fitting them into the score visually as opposed to working them in compositionally, or in effect, without really "listening" to them. So in addition to my desire that there be a bit of recklessness in the performance of the piece, there was a bit of recklessness in the composition of the music as well.
Instrumentation:
Player 1 - medium tom, two Chinese toms, wood block, practice pad, 5 wood blocks, metal guiro, rain stick, triangle, Chinese cymbal, Chinese splash cymbal, small opera gong
Player 2 - two log drums, two Chinese toms, practice pad, 5 temple blocks, shaker, Tibetan prayer cymbal, triangle, two Chinese cymbals, opera gong
Player 3 - low tom, timbales, large cowbell, piccolo snare, 5 graduated cowbells, wood guiro, stones, Tibetan prayer cymbal, two ride cymbals, small wind gong
Player 4 - marching bass drum, tenor drum, two tambourines without heads, field drum, 5 graduated brake drums, afuche, slap stick, hi-hat, crash cymbal, splash cymbal, sizzle cymbal
Player 5 - concert bass drum, concert tom, two very large bell plates, concert snare, 5 graduated bell plates, vibraslap, flexatone, hi-hat, two ride cymbals, very small tam tam
Player 6 - floor tom, 3 congas, toy snare drum, 4 graduated bongos, cricket caller, ratchet, glass jar, medium trash cymbal, splash trash cymbal, medium wind gong
Player 7 - marching bass drum, low tom, two tambourines with heads, marching snare, 4 graduated marching toms, sand paper, ratchet, ceramic plate, two trash cymbals, small tam tam
Player 8 - gong drum, seven graduated tom toms or roto toms, snare, shaker, slap stick, gong, two crash cymbals, sizzle cymbal
From the composer:
When I considered naming this piece Reckless, defined as a disregard for consequences or unthinking boldness, it seemed appropriate for two reasons. First, the score states that the performance should always be pushing forward, that the piece will suffer if the tempo is too slow, and that "While accuracy is necessary, there should be no feeling that the piece is being performed carefully." So I hoped the name Reckless would give even more encouragement to the performers to push themselves and bring an edge to the performance.
Second, when I started planning the music I had two very different ideas in mind, and was having trouble deciding which one to use. I was attracted to something I'd read about a remix artist that claims he mixes different pieces of music together without listening to them. So I decided to take my two ideas and mix them together, inserting other ideas more or less at random, sometimes fitting them into the score visually as opposed to working them in compositionally, or in effect, without really "listening" to them. So in addition to my desire that there be a bit of recklessness in the performance of the piece, there was a bit of recklessness in the composition of the music as well.
Instrumentation:
Player 1 - medium tom, two Chinese toms, wood block, practice pad, 5 wood blocks, metal guiro, rain stick, triangle, Chinese cymbal, Chinese splash cymbal, small opera gong
Player 2 - two log drums, two Chinese toms, practice pad, 5 temple blocks, shaker, Tibetan prayer cymbal, triangle, two Chinese cymbals, opera gong
Player 3 - low tom, timbales, large cowbell, piccolo snare, 5 graduated cowbells, wood guiro, stones, Tibetan prayer cymbal, two ride cymbals, small wind gong
Player 4 - marching bass drum, tenor drum, two tambourines without heads, field drum, 5 graduated brake drums, afuche, slap stick, hi-hat, crash cymbal, splash cymbal, sizzle cymbal
Player 5 - concert bass drum, concert tom, two very large bell plates, concert snare, 5 graduated bell plates, vibraslap, flexatone, hi-hat, two ride cymbals, very small tam tam
Player 6 - floor tom, 3 congas, toy snare drum, 4 graduated bongos, cricket caller, ratchet, glass jar, medium trash cymbal, splash trash cymbal, medium wind gong
Player 7 - marching bass drum, low tom, two tambourines with heads, marching snare, 4 graduated marching toms, sand paper, ratchet, ceramic plate, two trash cymbals, small tam tam
Player 8 - gong drum, seven graduated tom toms or roto toms, snare, shaker, slap stick, gong, two crash cymbals, sizzle cymbal