Skin Rituals (1996)

Dancers and 7 drummers – 18 min.

Video

Audio

Score (Free Download)

Program Note

SKIN RITUALS was composed for the Indiana University Percussion Ensemble,to be performed by the IU Ballet Theatre as choreographed by Jacques Cesbron. The “Skin” in the title refers to the skin-tight flesh colored leotards of the corps of seven dancers, which in turn suggested the limiting of the percussion instrumentation to seven collections of drums.

This chart of the form of Skin Rituals was created by the composer to aid the choreographer:

Skin Rituals Form

m1 (Clock Time 0:00) Intro: ominous rolls with interjected snare drum rips

m23 (1:08) Center tom-tom solo leads to… m27 (1:20) Fast Triple with interjected snare drum rips

m131 (2:35) Timpani superimposes 2’s & 4’s vs. triple (3:00) Primitive pulse with violent off-beat challenges

m182 transition to…

(3:50) Metric modulations — a short phrase which displaces the pulse accent to change each new entrance to a tempo 66% slower or 133% faster (8 times)

Tempos for the successive entrances: 104, 69, 92, 124, 82, 110, 144, 96, 63

When the tempo hits 63, new material is introduced…

m251 (5:30) “Ostinato” — one-measure phrase repeated ritualistically:

9 times/(shift) 5 times/ 6 beats interpolated/

9 times/(shift) 2 times/ 2-beat interpolation/ 6 times

m285 (7:40) alternating unison&clutter; rolls lead to… m292 (8:10) “busy counterpoint” alternates with “primitive beats”

Pattern:13m. cntrpt/5m primitive/6m cntrpt./4m primitive/(overlap) 7m cntrpt m327 (9:15) rolls with explosive endings; snippets of cntrpt superimposed

m367 surges over 5 measures to set up…

m372 (10:25) “Passacaglia” All drums except center tom-toms repeat obsessive 3-measure mantra

22 times (in different mixtures, but always in unison). Against this, the center tomtoms plays a dramatic, individualized solo consisting of 5 phrases, each phrase successively longer. The “mantra” goes like this:

DA taDA takaDA takataDA takatakaDA 1-2-3-4-5-DA—DA—DA

1 time – mantra only

1 time with solo over

1 time – mantra only

2 times with solo over

1 time – mantra only

3 times with solo over

1 time – mantra only

4 times with solo over

5 times with solo over – builds to climax in m414-429 (13:45-14:55)

3 times, solo winding down, mantra narrows to solo slit drum (last time)

m438 (15:45) Scurrying music

m495 (16:50) scurry with interpolated snare drum rips

m505 (17:02) scurry with rolls superimposed m513 (17:14) unison climax

m516 (17:19) replay of 503-512

m526 (17:33) climax again, sustained to end

m547 (18:08) end