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Description
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Petroglyphs
The Dancing Figure
Blue Rain
Raining on the Dancing Figure
Time's Graffiti: Lucky Calligraphy is inspired by Hawaiian petroglyphs and Australian rock paintings. It is in four continuous sections with an environmental soundscape in the background throughout. The first section, Petroglyphs, centers on percussive sounds representing the tapping of petroglyphs in stone, and various kinds of Native American, New Zealand and small ceramic flutes and a didgeridoo. The Dancing Figure in the second section is inspired by Michael Robinson's poem, The Earth and the Dancing Man, which is a poetic musing about a dancing figure petroglyph. The soloist plays a light and lively middle-eastern dance in a made-up meter of 11/8 (modified from Karsilamas in 9/8), with accompanying flutes and percussion. In the third section of the piece, Blue Rain, the soloist slips into a blues accompanied by flutes, didgeridoo and gamelan in a rainforest. The fourth section, Raining on the Dancing Figure, builds up the elements from the other three sections into a lively finale.
As I was composing this piece, I received the sad news of the loss of one of my inspiring teachers, "Lucky" Mosko, who taught me that the calligraphy of music should be as personal and beautiful as the music it represents. Time passes, we pass our knowledge and inspiration to others, who inscribe their own markings over the stones of time. Our lives and our work are time's calligraphy, the graffiti with which we mark our passage through the times in which we live. I offer this graffiti of music in memory of Lucky's calligraphy.
This piece was commissioned by The National Flute Association, Inc. as the competition piece for the High School Soloist Competition in 2006. (2006)
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Notes
| Flute and soundscape (5:10 minutes) |
