Persistence

Brian Blume’s compositions have a way of connecting to listeners in a visceral way, while also providing effective educational opportunities in teaching environments. Persistence definitely fits that bill. Equal parts groovy and contemporary, it uses a persistent 16th-note rhythm on a metal pipe throughout much of the piece.

Five players navigate through an array of changing accent patterns and meters, the metallic pipe rhythm persists while players share marimbas (up to four players on two 4.3-octave instruments) and produce a variety of metallic effects of resonant, semi-resonant, and trashy timbres.

Geared toward advanced high school or undergraduate college ensembles, Persistence will be an energetic and crowd-pleasing addition to the repertoire!

This piece comes as a professionally printed and bound score and includes individual parts in PDF format for printing or for tablet viewing.

Instrumentation:

• Crotales (lower octave)
• 2 marimbas—low A
• Drums (3 concert toms, concert bass drum)
• Cymbals & gongs (China cymbal, tam tam)
• Accessories (trashy metal, resonant metal, semi resonant metal, small metal pipe, ribbon crasher, sleigh bells, wind chimes, small shaker)