Rice-Septet (SP)-P

Septet by Dwayne Rice is a work for percussion ensemble that was commissioned by the Lone Star Wind Orchestra Percussion Ensemble. Any live performance by a group of people, whether it is music, dance, or theater, is essentially a conversation between all those involved. In this case, it is a conversation between seven percussionists, each with his own culturally unique set up.

They begin with the same rhythmic material and on the same family of instruments. After the introduction, they start to separate and differentiate, branching out from the rhythmic motive into rhythmic and melodic configurations more like the culture their instrumentation represents. As the piece progresses, each performer struggles for dominance over what becomes an unsteady and constantly interrupted groove. They coalesce into larger and larger groups, until they are all saying the same thing, but fighting to be the loudest voice. If there were a lesson to be learned from this conversation, it would be that no matter how different we think we are, what part of the world we come from, what story we believe in, what language we speak, or what we choose to do with what we are given, we are all essentially the same thing…human.

Duration: 4'30"

Instrumentation:
Percussion 1: concert snare drum, 3 brake drums, opera gong, taiko drums, tam-tam
Percussion 2: piccolo snare drum, kick bass drum, 4 cowbells
Percussion 3: field drum, granite blocks (5), tambourine, doumbek
Percussion 4: concert snare drum, concert tom, log drum (4 pitches), djembe
Percussion 5: concert snare drum, 5 concert toms, concert bass drum, triangle, suspended cymbal, China cymbal
Percussion 6: drum set with hi-hat, 2 crashes, ride, and splash
Percussion 7: firecracker snare drum, bongos, congas (2), maracas, surdo, claves