THE MAGIC BOX, a set of 12+ pieces for vibraphone & marimba

PERCUSSION cs-music.com/drums

StarCycle PROJECTS: new music for the virtuoso solo instrumentalist

THIS IS THE central movement V of my StarCycle Project, SPICA--for solo #percussion. Each of a circle of nine movements, is for a different set of instruments. This movement, called fold-center-fold, is for solo drumset. the piece stands on its own, so it can easily be studied and played as an independent project.

PERFORMANCE materials are at my website: 
THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE http://www.cs-music.com

see INTRO to the entire StarCycle Project,
SPICA--for percussion solo bit.ly/1bejhph
webscore Movement V [w/ color dynamic spectrum]
score Movement V pdf bit.ly/mR2rds [prints landscape A3 cardstock]
performance model mp3 [1.6 Mb] bit.ly/nC8XqT

Or visit my percussion page, NEW MUSIC for DRUMS at:
cs-music.com/drums

If you're ambitious enough to learn the piece by heart first, we might be able to arrange some rehearsal sessions via SKYPE. SKYPE me at handle, cliffcrego, or email to cliff@picture-poems.com (I'm also a wilderness photographer, so allow a few weeks answering time, if I'm out of the Office doing fieldwork.)



from StarCycle Project: "Spica," for percussion solo, movement V

JIM-JAM, for #sabar (or #djembe) orchestra w/ 3 voices, one MASTER #DRUMMER, and two choirs, left & right 

DOWNLOAD master drummer part pdf (color dynamics) at: http://bit.ly/1cHZ1sI

GO TO #iPad webscore CS | JIM-JAM (page 1 of 17) http://bit.ly/U4MdFT

DOWNLOAD performance score pdf at: http://bit.ly/Qjk5Qu 

DOWNLOAD parts pdf at: http://bit.ly/RZGroy 

DOWNLOAD performance model mp3 at: http://bit.ly/U4Mt87


Jim-Jam, for sabar (or djembe) orchestra

For any number of players & any combination of instruments
at http://cs-music.com/drums

IDEA: As a special project, performed on an ensemble of instruments made from the wood of dead WHITEBARK Pines, at once, the oldest & most endangered tree of the high mountains of North America, victims of a hotter, drier, climate.

SEE MY Dialogue Resource Page at:
http://picture-poems.com/whitebarks

webscore CS | Study No. 2 (page 1 of 10) http://bit.ly/ifO8yM
score pdf http://bit.ly/xyBI2p
parts pdf http://bit.ly/xfY5fn
performance model mp3 http://bit.ly/dTOkef

PHOTO: Dawson Pass on the rim of the great Divide, Glacier National Park

PERCUSSION Study No. 2--in 5 voices [playing on WHITEBARK Pine instruments, performance model]

THE FIVE VOICES of STUDY No. 4 [score pdf http://bit.ly/IPNf6w] should be distributed in space in three groups, w/ conducting master drummer in the center. The outer two groups of two voices can be played by any number of performers..

The greater the contrast between the "HIGH CULTURE" of breath-taking rhythmic virtuosity and preciseness of ensemble (playing without music), and, at the opposite dynamic extreme, the "LOW CULTURE" of pickup rubbish junkyard instrumentation of the five independent voices, the better. Be creative! 

And change parts and instrumentation frequently, as well as occasionally just sing and clap the piece. The "3:2 shift" refers to the ration of iterative tempo modulation, roughly the "golden ratio" in time. [A note on the m3 performance model. The rhythm is the way I want it, but the dynamics are only very very rough. Sorry, it was the best I could do for now.]

iPad performance score pdf http://bit.ly/IPNf6w 
iPad parts http://bit.ly/1cfxL3k
A contrasting performance model mp3 [4.4 Mb] http://bit.ly/Y5Yysz

For study help, email cliff@picture-poems.com, or SKYPE me at "cliffcrego" anytime.



Percussion STUDY No. 4: in 5 voices "3:2 shift"

from THE MAGIC BOX Project, "A one page 3/4 honky-tonk on top of a rock-solid 4/4 bass," on the web at:
http://www.cs-music.com/magicbox.html

This is a little encore piece. Make sure to switch parts at the repeat, if possible, without missing a beat! 

download mp3 [2.5 Mb] http://bit.ly/TlFXGT 

webscore http://www.cs-music.com/magicbox/4-square-1.html

performance pdf http://bit.ly/JbRkTm

from THE MAGIC BOX: "4 Square" for vibraphone & marimba

THIS IS THE marimba movement of my StarCycle Project, SPICA, for solo percussionist, "Night Phantom." Each piece of SPICA finds its place within a circle of nine stations or movements, and is written for a different set of instruments. NIGHT PHANTOM, although short, stands on its own, so it can easily be studied and played as an independent project. [PHOTO: Whitewater flowform in moonlight]

STUDY/PERFORMANCE materials are at my website:

see INTRO to the entire StarCycle Project,
SPICA--for percussion solo bit.ly/1bejhph
webscore Movement IV http://bit.ly/V62ayf
score Movement IV pdf http://bit.ly/Um5Zgf [prints landscape A3 cardstock]
performance model mp3 [1.6 Mb] http://bit.ly/TohN0X

Or visit my percussion page, NEW MUSIC for DRUMS at:
cs-music.com/drums

[If you're ambitious enough to learn the piece by heart first, we might be able to arrange some rehearsal sessions via SKYPE. SKYPE me at handle, cliffcrego, or email to cliff@picture-poems.com (I'm also a wilderness photographer, so allow a few weeks answering time, if I'm out of the Office doing fieldwork.]

StarCycle Project, SPICA for percussion solo, IV "Night Phantom" for marimba

BLUE MONK variations is both a musical homage to the great pianist and composer, Thelonious MONK, as well as a kind of improvised meditation on the tune. It's just a way of thinking about music. Instead of writing words ABOUT music, which, of course, I'm doing now, we sit down and compose a piece about a piece, as a kind of playful journey into the wilds which might lie ahead.

The pieces was written for my mallet virtuosi friends, Niels Meliefste and Claire Edwards, of DUO VERTIGO

GO TO webscore w/ color dynamics raindbow [purple=ppp >>> red=ff] http://bit.ly/g26GM5
DOWNLOAD performance score pdf http://bit.ly/TIWTvL
DOWNLOAD performance model mp3 http://bit.ly/gWBVeq

BLUE MONK variations, for vibraphone & marimba

SEE performance SCORE & INTRO at 
pdf http://bit.ly/1u9OuiC  
performance model mp3 http://bit.ly/1u9MiI9  

Performance models are with the StarCycle PROJECT
important. Why? This is because they explore a wide
repertoire of new species of musical movement. So
computers are needed, in a way, to make them manifest,
just as computers are needed to make the new geometry of 
FRACTALS visible. So, paradoxically, the machine reveals
a new dimension that potentially helps us transcend the
otherwise dehumanized rhythmical landscape of what much
of Classical Music has become.

StarCycle Project: REGULUS Regulus "The Little King" for piccolo solo

TIMELINE is a part of my MAGIC BOX project for mallet instruments http://www.cs-music.com/magicbox.html

Timeline was written for my former teacher, mentor & friend, the late American composer, Donald Erb, on the happy occasion of his 80th birthday.

SEE INTRO to Timeline at: http://www.cs-music.com/drums/intro-timeline.html

GO TO iPad webscore at: http://www.cs-music.com/drums/timeline-1.html

DOWNLOAD score at: http://cs-music.com/drums/timeline.pdf

DOWNLOAD parts at: http://cs-music.com/drums/timeline_parts.pdf


TIMELINE, a vibraphone & marimba duo, for Donald Erb (1928-2008)

SEE webcore at: http://cs-music.com/viola/m_frame-1-va-1.html

DOWNLOAD pdf for 1st frame at: http://cs-music.com/viola/m_frame-1-va.pdf

DOWNLOAD pdf for all four frames of "m," complete: http://cs-music.com/viola/m-for-viola.pdf

DOWNLOAD the book mentioned in the introduction, THE LITTLE CLAVIER, kindle / pdf version [110Mb/630 pages] at: http://bit.ly/1AhsEwv

SEE ALSO an early version of the same "strange loop" essay, w/ examples, links, etc., on the web at: http://cs-music.com/volume1/staircase3.html

from StarCycle Project: INTRO to "Strange Loops" & m--for solo viola

Premiere performance, by Niels Meliefste & Joeke Hoekstra, at the Royal Conservatory, the Hague, the Netherlands SEE webscore at: http://bit.ly/10Br4ur DOWNLOAD pdf at: http://bit.ly/1rVOS2v

DUO VERTIGO, w/ Niels Meliefste & Clare Edwards, has an excellent recording of the INVENTION, as well as three other MAGIC BOX pieces, on their CD, "Vertigo One." http://amzn.to/1rVNWv6

Bo to THE MAGIC BOX project, for mallet instruments, at: http://www.cs-music.com/magicbox.html


from THE MAGIC BOX, "An Invention in 2 Voices,, for vibraphone & marimba

TWO STREAMS OF complementary movement, one in 5, the other in 3...[This is just a little 2 minute piece, so, if played separately, you might try performing it twice while switching parts; it's a good way to really master the independent, composite, polymetric rhythms...]

WEBSCORE is at: http://www.cs-music.com/magicbox/magicbox-1.html

Performance score pdf [FOUR a3 pages/88k] is at: http://www.cs-music.com/magicbox/pdfs/download_magicbox.pdf 

MINI WEBSITE for the MAGIC BOX Project is at: http://www.cs-music.com/magicbox.html

THE MAGIC BOX, 1st piece in a project for vibraphone & marimba

"Moonstone" is the 6th movement for solo vibraphone of the StarCycle Project, SPICA. Webscore is at: http://cs-music.com/starcycle/spica-move6a.html PDF http://cs-music.com/starcycle/pdfs/spica-move6.pdf INTO for the whole SPICA project is at: http://cs-music.com/starcycle/intro_spica.html


from StarCycle Project: SPICA VI, "Moonstone," for vibraphone

from THE MAGIC BOX Project, "4-page sonata" & "study in 15," two contrasting movements for vibraphone & marimba

BACK TO BACK, here you have two fundamentally different rhythmic movements, one based on geometric spirals or temporal glissandi, the other, based on a rock-solid, constant pulse of 15 beats. They are both, in my view, difficult to do really well. One because it is new; the other because we generally don't work in the right manner to make rhythmic pulses totally second nature and learn to play from a shared, deeply rooted, rhythmic ground. The homepage for THE MAGIC BOX is at: http://www.cs-music.com/magicbox.html

WebSCORE for "4-page-sonata" is at: http://bit.ly/1FG5McU pdf http://bit.ly/1FG5VgH

WebSCORE for "study in 15" is at: http://bit.ly/18vd6ON pdf http://bit.ly/18vdeh0

Whereas the "study in 15" has been played many times by different duos, AS FAR AS I KNOW, the "4-page sonata" has never been performed. That's not because it's objectively so difficult. Rather, I think it's probably because the notation of the temporal glissandi leaves much to desired, at first glance looking strange, if not unplayable. But this is only at first. The idea is to get past the "training wheels" stage of numbers and notation and learn to sense the movements ORGANICALLY. I did an intro to help you get this process started on SOUNDCLOUD at: from StarCycle Project: INTRO to "Strange Loops" & m--for solo viola http://bit.ly/1BIveBg

THE GOAL YOU want you have clearly before you, like a mountain in distance, is to get rid of the music -- a handicap at best -- and play by heart. AND, as always with my scores at THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE, they are open source, so tear them apart, make them your own, and feel free to make arrangements for different, perhaps better, groups of instruments!








from THE MAGIC BOX, "4-page sonata" & "study in 15," two contrasting movements, for vibes & marimba

Study No. 1 in 5 voices a rhythmical invention exploring the ratio
4 in the time of 5, both as counter-rhythm & tempo shift;
for any number of players & any combination of instruments. [NOTE: In the score, the third voice is "the master drummer." Plays solo & conducts the orchestra. It's also always best to learn the piece FIRST w/ the VOICE, singing the rhythm, and conducting the meter w/ both or either hand, and feet.]

score is at: http://bit.ly/ho9taF
pdf of score is at: http://bit.ly/Tqs4FE
pdf of parts is at: http://bit.ly/ShgMo4


PERCUSSION Study No. 1 in 5 voices, for any number of any instruments

"In wildness is the preservation of the world," also when it comes to rhythm & sound. The 1925 VARESE classic, which remains unsurpassed . . . 

LIVE performance in VREDENBURG, Utrecht, HOLLAND, w/ the ASKO Ensemble, Cliff CREGO.

IMAGE: Edgar VARESE in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1936

INTEGRALES--Edgar Varèse, for 11 winds & 4 percussionists, Cliff CREGO, conducting

Composer. Writer. Photographer. Former conductor & founder of the ASKO ensemble.

On a bike/ski/hike trek of the Pacific Northwest studying native plants & climate breakdown 🌲 from sagebrush sea to whitebark pine. Composing off-grid the whole way.

#Sun2Sound 🌕 on Bluesky

THINKING LIKE A STONEPINE, a soundpoem manifesto https://vimeo.com/844665859

“LOVE & WATER, three thought poems w/ coda, PHAROS for small orchestra, “Nightwind”” https://vimeo.com/847079690 

CURRENTLY on mt bike/ski/climbing trek through Pacific Northwest, working on a photobook about WHITEBARK PINE COLLAPSE and CLIMATE CRISIS. BASES in the WALLOWAS | AMSTERDAM | ALPS. 

WEEKLY photo/poetry updates at www.picture-poems.com & THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE new music, poetry & dance performance project at www.cs-music.com

ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT for progressive, tech-savy, instrumental virtuosi interested in dialogue & collaborative undertakings.

CONTACT cliff@picture-opoems.com
Or on SKYPE or FACETIME @cliffcrego

MUSIC? The one thing humans do,
that makes the rest of nature jealous.

from THE MAGIC BOX, "4-page sonata" & "study in 15," two contrasting movements, for vibes & marimba

Cliff Crego