Shock and Awe

Jamieson Carr

General Info

Year: 2012
Duration: 00:03:00
Difficulty: Advanced
Publisher: Tapspace
Cost: Score and Parts - $42.00   |   Score Only - $11.00

Instrumentation

Player 1: Glockenspiel & Shekere
Player 2: Xylophone
Player 3: Vibraphone 1
Player 4: Vibraphone 2
Player 5: Marimba 1
Player 6: Marimba 2
Player 7: Marimba 3
Player 8: Chimes & Doumbek
Player 9: 5 Timpani
Player 10: Hi-hat & Sizzle Cymbal & Splash Cymbal & Tam-tam & Wind Chimes & Brake Drum & Roto-tom Frame
Player 11: Concert Bass Drum & Ocean Drum & Finger Cymbals & Zil-bell
Player 12: Sizzle Cymbal & Splash Cymbal & China Cymbal & 2 Suspended Cymbals & Tom-tom (Medium Low) & 3 Woodblocks & Zil-bell (High)
Player 13: Bell Tree & Suspended Cymbal & Wind Chimes & Tambourine & Bell Tree & 2 Triangle & Hand Cymbals

Program Notes

Shock and Awe, by Jamieson Carr, is a bold ensemble work for the intermediate-to-advanced group that features a vast array of percussion instruments to create dissonant, exciting textures right out of the gate. From the words of the composer regarding the inspiration for the title, “The basis of this idea was to use overwhelming power, dominant battlefield maneuvers, and spectacular displays of force to paralyze an enemy and destroy their will to fight. This militaristic term is the inspiration for the piece.” When it’s time to engage your audience, elevate some heart rates, and unleash the fury that only full-sized percussion ensembles can, Shock and Awe will deliver.

Review

This piece is laden with energy and speed from beginning to end. Filled with compositional devices that are common to the drum and bugle corps circuit (fast runs, metallic impact support, and musical pauses that give way to crescendo punctuations), this work will challenge performers with their listening skills and rhythmic clarity and alignment.

The real strengths of the piece lie in how Jamieson Carr manipulates the beat and overall momentum of the work, shifting the listener’s ears from steady driving downbeats to hemiola twists. One of the attractive features of the opening section is when music that sounds like it’s clearly written in 6/8 gradually shifts to 3/4 through the layering of simple rhythmic backbeats. In terms of performance mechanics, all mallet parts can be played with two mallets, notwithstanding two four-note chords in the vibraphones. Additionally, each part poses slight rhythmic challenges to an individual player, but it is in the combining of these parts where the ensemble will reap the collective benefits.

Carr’s use of closely spaced intervals during sixteenth-note runs and unison climaxes lends to tonal flexibility when arriving at musical impact points. The result is a finished product where multiple “tonal centers” are perceived but never reconciled, lending to the continuous momentum of the work. The only real drawback is that the piece lasts only three and a half minutes. I am sure audiences from all musical backgrounds will express the same sentiments.

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by this Composer

Double Take
Just a Matter of Time
Shock and Awe
Song for Jessica