Name: Radioactive - Mvt. 2 Virus Attack by James Boyce
Duration: 2 min 48 s
Description: www.jamesboycepercussion.com

Music Box

This was a demo I wrote for a commercial for a major brand of athletic wear. Ultimately, the spot went in a different musical direction, but this version was intending to capture the heart, soul, and dedication to a competitive team environment.

Athlete Commercial Demo '12

Sheet music available from Tapspace at http://www.tapspace.com

Machine (by Jon Weber)

"Meanwhile in a Parallel Universe" is a fantasy based on the notion that our brief time on this earth can have any number of outcomes depending on the decisions we make, the relationships we encounter, and how present we are along the way. As our stories evolve through circumstance, timing, and millions of decisions big and small, alternate stories are spun based on which forks in the road we take. The result is an adventure filled with both uncertainty and accomplishment – byproducts of a vulnerable journey.

The piece is designed to play out as if it were an episodic journey filled with wonder. It is constructed in three short, connected movements featuring a solo marimbist accompanied by eight percussionists. While each movement has its own identity, their melodies and harmonic DNA (built upon a seventh suspended fourth chord) keep them rooted to the same story – one that sometimes sounds resolute, and at other times, ungrounded.

Harmonically, the forks in the road of "Meanwhile in a Parallel Universe" are dictated by restating ideas in mediant relation (modulations of minor thirds). Just as we're always ourselves even when in unfamiliar territory, the goal was to create unpredictable turns harmonically while maintaining thematic familiarity within the restatements.

The first movement is held by a rhythmic pattern of fifteen beats (three bars of 2/4 plus a bar of 3/8). This doesn't reveal itself clearly until the syncopated bass ostinato enters, following the dawn of a curious introduction. With sure-footedness the main theme is introduced by the soloist weaving a complex pattern of four-mallet permutations. The ensemble restates this with fuller orchestration, leading to a development of virtuosic acrobatics by the soloist, and culminating in a whirlwind fight for survival.

We descend into the second movement through a rubato series of anxious flourishes. These built on chords containing diminished seconds and augmented fifths, making them feel less grounded. This moves into a distant and reflective period as the soloist arpeggiates the seventh suspended fourth ostinato in the left hand while the right hand plays melancholy, sustained one-handed rolls. This develops from lonely isolation into ferocious layers of conviction.

The intensity reaches a breaking point in which new clarity is achieved through a pulsating, accelerating unison. From this clarity, the journey of the third movement embarks. Unlike the first two movement's fifteen-beat motive, the meter switches to a more comfortable 12/8. The melody here is based on the same DNA from before, but proceeds with a newfound sense of identity. This adventure leads through blazing displays of technique from the soloist and culminates in a courageous and triumphant march forward.

"Meanwhile in a Parallel Universe" was commissioned by Bloomsburg University (Bloomsburg, PA) under the direction of Dr. Gifford Howarth, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (Singapore), under the direction of Jonathan Fox. It will premiere in Singapore in March 2012 featuring Dr. Howarth as the soloist with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory percussion ensemble.

Meanwhile in a Parallel Universe

Radioactive - Mvt. 2 Virus Attack

This is the first version of Salem High Schools 1st movement for their Fall Marching Band show.

Mvt I Salem 2013 Full Percussion

www.JamesBoycePercussion.com

Percussion Educator, Arranger and Composer

Radioactive - Mvt. 2 Virus Attack

James Boyce

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