A percussion ensemble for 12 players,
Sorcery!	 is Orchestral style with 20th century harmony, and a driving timpani ostinato.    (TEXAS UIL ENSEMBLE LIST, CLASS 1) Grade 5
it can be viewed on a Vic Firth video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9IuTuVoWj0

to purchase: http://www.uta.edu/faculty/mulberry/acover


Sorcery!  Percussion Ensemble By Michael Varner

Suite for Marimba by Alfred Fissinger (1950)



Performed by Dr. Michael Varner, Live in concert, Suite for Marimba consists of four movements, each depicting a specific incident experienced by Alfred Fissinger while serving as an infantryman in Europe during World War II.

MIST from Suite for Marimba by Alfred Fissinger

Advanced Multiple Percussion Solo.  written for 4 toms, 4 almglocken, and opera gong it is a minimalist set up that still explores an incredible vocabulary of sounds and effects
Music available from Composers website
http://www.uta.edu/faculty/mulberry/acover

"The Silence Between.."

An exciting and energetic new percussion quartet that features skin, wood, and metal instruments.  All easily accessible to most programs. a wide vocabulary of sounds and effects challenges the players musiciality.  Each performer also performs on the tambourine making it a "Tour de Force" of tambourine techniques.
available for purchase at the composers website.
currently featured on the class 1 texas PML

imagined diVersions

preValent motiVes is a Percussion Sextet composed by Dr. Michael Varner and premiered by the University of Texas at Arlington Percussion Ensemble at the Texas Music Educators Convention, San Antonio 2017. It is a “footprint” composition meaning the setup and instrumentation are the same as “conVectiVe motiVes” allowing ensembles to transition seamlessly without setup delay from one piece to the next. Using harmonic and rhythmic characteristics found in the music of Bela Bartok preValent motiVes phrases in alternating bars of 5/8(3-2) and 7/8 (3-2-2 blended across unifying 6/4 creating a unique rhythmic challenge for the players. Performers should strive to highlight the 3-2-3-2-2 beaming.

shit

Prevalent Motives

This percussion sextet was composed after returning from a trip to Hungary in 2016. I was interested in the Hungarian tonality and rhythmic aspects of that fascinating country found throughout the music of Bela Bartok. The piece pays tribute to the interplay between many cultures in Hungary represented by integrating percussive sounds with melodic fragments. Written predominantly in 6/4, it actually phrases in alternating bars of 5/8 and 7/8. The 6/4 motivic development blends and creates a rhythmic tension against the 2-3-2-2-3 beaming. A rhythmic motif of sixteenth notes on the “two” groupings drive the piece sometimes toward mysterious and other times aggressive presentations of the motif. Like many of my works I have intertwined the use of micro and macro rhythmic development so that often 5/8-7/8 will be overlaid with 5/16-7/16 or 5/4-7/4 developments of themes. conVective motiVes was premiered by the University of Texas at Arlington Percussion Ensemble in November 2016. It is a “footprint” composition meaning the setup and instrumentation are the same as my partner composition “preValent motiVes” allowing ensembles to transition seamlessly without delay from one piece to the next.
available from: http://www.uta.edu/faculty/mulberry/acover

Convective Motives

“Arabian Sketches” for Percussion Ensemble
(12 Players)  By Michael Varner

Arabian Sketches is one of a series of Percussion Orchestra works that highlight the music of particular cultural regions.  Included in the series are India, Hungarian Gypsy music, Japan, and Africa.  The pieces display the concepts of sounds of each culture’s music applied to predominantly contemporary percussion instruments.  While Arabian Sketches uses a few of the unique instruments from the Middle East it is more akin to the sounds of the storied Middle East such as the stories of the Arabian Nights. Most of the patterns and chords are authentic to Middle Eastern musical concepts.

Varner Arabian Sketches - 2019

Phantasm III is a movie sound track  featuring the widest possible variety of intriguing sounds and colors.  From its first moment with all performers exploring every imaginable possibility for suspended cymbal through a finale of spatial rhythms Phantasm III drives forward with relentless energy.

Phantasm III Percussion Ensemble

“Arabian Sketches”for Percussion Ensemble(12 Players)
By Michael Varner
Arabian Sketches is one of a series of Percussion Orchestra works that highlight the music of particular cultural regions.  Included in the series are India, Hungarian Gypsy music, Japan, and Africa.  The pieces display the concepts of sounds of each culture’s music applied to predominantly contemporary percussion instruments.  While Arabian Sketches uses a few of the unique instruments from the Middle East it is more akin to the sounds of the storied Middle East such as the stories of the Arabian Nights. Most of the patterns and chords are authentic to Middle Eastern musical concepts.                  Duration: 6:00
contact me if you want to perform Arabian Sketches:
http://www.uta.edu/faculty/mulberry/acover

Arabian Sketches Percussion ensemble

“Revelations”for Snare Drum Soloist and Percussion Ensemble
(8 Players)
by Michael Varner
Revelations “REVEALS” the incredible diversity of snare drum timbres and effects.  Written for eight percussionists it is basically a snare drum concerto including two cadenzas in a large movement work.
Duration: 7:00 (depending on Cadenza length)

http://www.uta.edu/faculty/mulberry/acover

Revelations Michael Varner 4.0

While on research in Nigeria  I decided to compose a work that combined many of the sounds I heard to share with audiences the incredible musical experience of Africa.  Much of Yoruba music is “parables” or stories that are “sung” by the incredibly expressive “Dun-Dun” or Talking drum.   In“Yoruba Rhapsody” the bassoon represents the elder member of the family whose low full voice tells  proverbs.  The Solo talking drum represents the father who has learned the parables and can play them back responding to the words of the elder on the Iya-Ilu: the lead Dun-dun.  The four Percussion players represent the young new generation of the family, playing repetitive parts and listening/learning the Proverbs.    “Ile-Ife” refers to a  city in Nigeria that is the center of the Yoruba culture and thought to be the “Birthplace” of the Yoruba.  All the patterns played by the accompanying percussionists are authentic to the Yoruba Proverbs .  For more information on this fascinating culture and music visit my website for my article “Skin that Speaks:” The Talking drums of Africa.

ReVelations

Yoruba Rhapsody: Ile-Ife

reVelations “  Written for two pianos and percussion, REVEALS” the many faceted roles of the snare drum. In the first section the pianos perform a primarily “time” pulse role driving the piece forward with percussion focused on colors and timbres.  The relentlessly growing pulse of ten beats is regularly interrupted with interludes showing or “revealing” different sonic aspects of the snare. After a cadenza utilizing everything from hands, to a wide variety of implements including brushs, timpani mallets, and rutes, the second section permits the percussionists to perform the role of time keeping and the pianos to supply the fullest range of colors. A second cadenza focuses on rhythmic gestures, and in the final section all the instruments join in a rush toward the conclusive final rhythmic statement.   The instrumentation is developed around instruments used by Bela Bartok in his ground-breaking composition “Sonata” for Two Pianos and Two Percussion. t

Michael Varner

Popular tracks