This percussion quartet combines standard percussion instruments like marimba and vibraphone with the sounds of objects like paper, a take-out container, a wire music stand, and tuned glass bottles. The title came to me from rock-climber Emily Harrington, who repeated "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" like a mantra during her record-setting climb of El Capitan. This phrase struck me as oddly musical and I wanted to capture a sense that within any larger sweep of time, there are an infinity of instants being articulated. In the quartet, sudden tempo changes in are often smoothed over with complex rhythms; polymetric mutterings in different instruments coalesce as their timbres blur together. I hope the quartet captures something of the slipperiness of time.

percussion: Jonathan Collazo, Gabriel Costache, John Ferrari, Daniel Matei
conductor: Scott Allen Miller
recording and sound engineering: Jacob Sachs-Mishalanie
Recorded at LeFrak Concert Hall, Queens College, CUNY. Special thanks to George Katehis and Jeff Nichols.

(NYT article on Emily Harrington: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/sports/emily-harrington-free-climb-yosemite.html )

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast (2022) for percussion quartet

Scott Allen Miller is a composer, educator, and bassist in New York, NY. His visceral music is concerned with memory, thought, and the passage of time, expressed through unconventional performance techniques, evocative microtonal harmonies, and a constantly-evolving approach to timbre and melody. Whether writing instrumental or vocal music for forces large or small, a primary concern is to establish a sound world unique to each composition. Miller has recently been commissioned by the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society, Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra, Occasional Symphony, Nebula Ensemble, and Omnibus Ensemble. 

Miller currently studies with Jason Eckardt as a Ph.D. student at The CUNY Graduate Center. He graduated from the Peabody Conservatory in 2015 where he studied with Kevin Puts, earning Master of Music degrees in composition and music theory pedagogy. Previously, Miller studied composition and double bass at SUNY Fredonia where he received a Bachelor of Music degree through his work with bassist Harry Jacobson and composers Robert Deemer, Karl Boelter, and Sean Doyle. As a Composition Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and School in 2016, Miller had the privilege of studying with Christopher Theofanidis and Stephen Hartke, as well as participating in masterclasses and brief lessons with Kaija Saariaho, Ted Hearne, Sean Shepherd, Donald Crocket, and Timo Andres. Other summer programs include the Atlantic Music Festival (2018) and the Charlotte New Music Festival (2013). Additional teachers with whom Miller has taken lessons and participated in masterclasses include Nils Vigeland, Amy Beth Kirsten, David Ludwig, Christopher Dobrian, Pierre Jalbert, Richard Danielpour, Zhou Long, George Tsontakis, Christopher Rouse, Michael Hersch, Daron Hagon, Paul Colman, Marc Mellits, and Lansing McLoskey. Recent awards include the 2015 Macht Orchestral Composition Competition for Pillars, erased and the 2013 Ethos Laureate Prize for his chamber opera Randall’s Leaf. Miller was a Finalist in the 2016 BMI Student Composers Awards and received an Honorable Mention from the 2016 Minnesota Composer’s Institute. 

Miller has taught music theory, form and analysis, ear training, and composition at the Peabody Preparatory, Carroll Community College, and as a private tutor. He is currently an Adjunct Lecturer at CUNY College of Staten Island where he teaches musicianship, harmony, and counterpoint.