The Phantom Dances

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Composer Name

Michael Hennagin

General Info

Year: 1990
Duration: c.12:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Oklahoma University Percussion Press
Cost: Score and Parts - $60.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Instrumentation

Player I: Orchestra bells, snare drum, castanets, sandpaper blocks
Player II: Roto-toms(8), crotales, cowbell, tambourine, Mark tree, suspended cymbal
Player III: Tubular chimes, snare drum, maracas
Player IV: Xylophone, wood block
Player V: Xylophone, snare drum
Player VI: Vibraphone, bass drum, bongos, slapstick, gong
Player VII: Vibraphone, tam tam, tambourine, triangle, suspended cymbal, tom-toms, gong
Player VIII: Marimba, brake drum, sleighbells
Player IX: Marimba, temple blocks, claves
Player X: Marimba
Player XI: Marimba, bass drum, slit drum
Player XII: Timpani(5), guiro, field drum, vibra-slap

Program Notes

This twelve minute work for twelve players will bring a sense of mystery and illusion to its audience. Based on a poem by Walt Whitman, this percussion ensemble is another fine addition to the literature of Michael Hennagin. Hennagin has created a rhythmical and visual masterpiece through the use of syncopation, hemiola, and phantom gestures.

Commission: University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble; premiere: 8 November 1990, PASIC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Univ. of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble, Richard Gipson, conductor - See more at: http://www.pas.org/Learn/compresearch.aspx#sthash.Wu78FxCL.dpuf

Composer info
Composer of twentieth-century classical music Michael Hennagin was born in The Dalles, Oregon, on September 17, 1936. He studied at Los Angeles City College, at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1963, and with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood. Hennagin also studied electronic music at Southern Illinois University in 1968. His teaching career began in public schools in the mid-1960s and continued at Kansas State Teachers College from 1966 to 1972.

He served as the University of Oklahoma's composer-in-residence and professor of music theory and composition from 1972 to 1991. His work included music for chorus, piano, chamber orchestra, and band. He composed in a variety of modern, rather than traditional, styles which places him in the company of other Oklahoma twentieth-century composers of "new music," including Ray Luke of Oklahoma City University and Samuel Magrill of the University of Central Oklahoma. Like them, he was rewarded by having his music performed publicly in Oklahoma and also in national venues.

Hennagin's compositions include the ballet The Barren Song (1968), the symphonic essay A Summer Overture (1963), the chamber piece Four Etudes for Clarinet Choir (1978), Dance Scene (1977), and Jubilee (1967), which remains a staple for college bands. Proud Music, a choral-orchestral work derived from a Walt Whitman poem, was composed in 1993 and performed that summer by the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute.

Ten times from 1976 through 1992 the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers accorded Hennagin its Annual Award recognizing the quality and performance record of original works by American composers. He was named Oklahoma Musician of the Year in 1975 and National Composer of the Year by the Music Teachers National Association in 1976. He also wrote scores for motion picture, television, and stage productions.

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by this Composer

Duo Chopinesque - Percussion Ensemble (10 Players)
The Phantom Dances - Percussion Ensemble (12 Players)