Emergent – for euphonium and marimba

Description

The original title of this work is TYGG, an acronym that stands for “Thank You Guy Gregg.” The story: In 2011, I released an album of my music, funding the project using a Kickstarter page. For a certain donation level I personally recorded a composition of me singing “thank you” while playing marimba. The basic groove and theme for this work was what I sent Guy for his patronage.

Don and DJ Palmire are very inspiring in their work with euphonium & marimba. Having heard their duo and collaborated with them before, I was attracted to their sound and I started to write using the pre-existing theme and groove. Soon, an entire new work of art was created and Emergent was born.

Emergent opens with a dark and intimidating melody for the euphonium, which is passed to the marimba player. Imagine sunlight trying to make its way through clouds, and after the fight – the light waves finally break through with a triumphant arrival! This intro section floods the mind with linear movement before swiftly moving into a groove presented by marimba. The influence of jazz melodies and chords starts to show in the work and euphonium takes over in a melodic role with marimba accompaniment. This section represents that same light wave going on an adventure. Once escaping the clouds, the light waves get to bounce off of different objects and that changes its groove and harmony! In the end, the light is everywhere. The melody from the intro comes back and mixes with the adventure groove, creating an all-encompassing musical version of this lightly clouded adventure… Enjoy Emergent!