Hammer

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Composer Name

Sydney Hodkinson

General Info

Year: 1996
Duration: c. 7:50
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Smith
Cost: Score and Parts - $0.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Instrumentation

Marimba

Program Notes

Review

To many composers, the marimba has served as a vehicle for the expression of subtle emotions--for music that is evocative, even evanescent in nature. But Sydney Hodkinson designed this aptly titled solo marimba piece to serve as "roughly 450 seconds of `test' for the stamina and dexterity of the performer." He explains that it was prompted by a "dream revealing a percussive keyboard soloist whacking away on B naturals," which is exactly how Hodkinson has his marimbist begin--by "whacking away" on B naturals for 25 measures, playing them fortissimo with sforzandi and accents liberally sprinkled throughout. The entire 7- to 8-minute piece is set almost entirely in driving sixteenth notes at quarter note = 126-132, and the composer suggests that "if you can handle a m.m. of 138, go for it!" Designed for a 4 1/3-octave marimba played with two hard mallets, the piece sets virtuosic demands for accuracy as well as stamina, as the performer must negotiate large leaps and use a variety of sticking patterns mixing alternating and doubled strokes played at soft as well as loud dynamic levels. Composed for the Percussive Arts Society and dedicated to John Beck, "Hammer" i�ðm– John R. Raush, August 1998

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by this Composer

Dawn Apparition II - Marimba
Drawings: Set No. 1 - Percussion Quartet
Drawings: Set No. 3 - Multiple Percussion; Clarinet
Drawings: Set No. 4 - Percussion Trio
Drawings: Set No. 9 - Percussion Trio
Hammer - Marimba
Hit and Run Praeambula for Harp and Percussion - Multiple Percussion; Harp
Imagined Quarter - Percussion Quartet
Keberos - Snare Drum
Limb - Marimba
Nocturnes - Multiple Percussion; Piccolo; Double Bass; Clarinet
Omaggio (w/Tuba) - Multiple Percussion; Tuba
Omaggio (w/Trombone) - Multiple Percussion; Trombone; Piano
Spectral Gusts - Marimba
Two Structures for Percussion - Percussion Sextet
Wind Sculptures - Marimba
Winterwaltz an Encore for Harp and Marimba - Marimba; Harp