Description
Music Files Below (left click to listen, right click to download)
The show begins with all the battery performers on the ground. During an accelerando drumset solo the members slowly rise up off the floor and grab their instruments. Throughout the first segment, there are many musical interpretations of the theme, including crescendo/diminuendo passages as well as rising and falling melodic material. Battery segment solos are marked with a plethora of rising and falling crescendo/diminuendo phrases. The second segment features the front ensemble members where the main focus is utilizing rising and falling tempos to express the theme. Throughout the segment battery members are breathing in and breathing out, and physically rising and falling to drive home the visual aspect. The closing segment features a great deal of imaginative general effect moments. Some notable moments include a snare feature with a Shephard's tone sample (A shephard's tone is an aural illusion that sounds like it's constantly rising), an advanced dub-step cymbal feature ending with a big toss (what goes up must come down), as well as duet between the bass drums and a group of performers playing talking drums (African drums that allow the player to bend the pitch). The show ends with an Eerie sample where the performers hoist a member up as high as they can and then immediately fall to the ground, ending where they started!
Rise and Fall was commissioned by the Notre Dame Indoor Percussion Ensemble for their 2015 season. The Ensemble received a gold medal in the Ohio Indoor Performance Association's State Championships as well as a fourth place finish in their round during the WGI Open Class Preliminary Competition.
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Total Performance Time: 4:40
Tempo Range (in BPM): 80, 98, 120, 128, 144, 172, 190, 192, 220 (Accelerando and Decellerando)