Skipping Stones

vibraphone

duration 7'30"

Skipping Stones for solo vibraphone was composed for percussionist Alison Shaw in 2007. My intention was to create the aural illusion of foreground and background layers through a combination of register, dynamic, and mallet type changes. The foreground material consists of bold and bright melodic fragments that gradually develop throughout the piece. The background layer includes faint echoes of these fragments, and a continuous stream of delicate, rapidly articulated notes that gives the music its subtle, yet driving, pulse. The title refers to the manner in which the foreground melodic fragments appear to skip across and submerge into the undulating surface of the background material. 

Awards

• FIRST PRIZE in the 2011 Percussive Arts Society International Composition Competition, Vibraphone Category
• FIRST PRIZE in the 2011 Illinois Percussion Arts Society Composition Contest

Listen

Published by Marimba Productions, Inc. (2011)

Purchase Here