ₘᴼᵤᴺₜᴹₐᴰₒᴺₙᴬᶜᴴₒᴿᵤˢ ᴶᵤᴹₚˢᶜᴴₒᴼₗ'₁⁴

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

Produced and Mixed by @Gullyspit

Lyrics:
Chorus 1:
hanging out that mother fucking 4Runner
you get done up in your crib
make ‘em all suffer
I got a 3D print a gun 
that ain’t got no numbers
leave a bomb by that morherfucking pipeline 
be like me kids 
do it’s for the culture 

black water nisour how the clip gone
and I got that stolen Valor fit on 
fuck the troops but they really got that shit on
Louieville slugger 
how the fuck I get my swing on 

Verse 1:
get a grip on this big fucking python
they don’t get the typa shit that I’m on
everybody found a hill that they can die on
if you don’t then let me help you find one

King Kong kill you insects in the pit
in sewer looking pretty 
with a needle in my wrist
if she thick I got somewhere she can sit
they want me to quit?
I hope that you stupid motherfuckers
eat a clip

and get Halloween right below the rib cage 
12 gauge to the ceiling that’s some good brain 
google what to do if she ain’t finish yet
get distracted buying weapons on the Internet 
fingers twitching in my pocket for cigarette 
I been itching for a reason make me do it
I been sticking to my guns it’s therapeutic
u been clinging to a trend and looking stupid

Chorus 2:
hanging out that mother fucking 4Runner
you get done up in your crib
make ‘em all suffer
I got a 3D print a gun 
that ain’t got no numbers
leave a bomb by that morherfucking pipeline 
be like me kids 
do it’s for the culture 

black water nisour how the clip gone
and I got that stolen Valor fit on 
fuck the troops but they really got that shit on
Louieville slugger 
how the fuck I get my swing on 

Breakdown:
i ain't really wanna do it 
but you made me 
what did I do?
tell why you hate me
can you keep me ?
maybe can you save me?
can you kill me ?
wrap me up
and take me?

never heard my songs but they fuck me 
I guess I got it poppin that’s a luxury
tryna hide it but they found it in discovery 
you talking way too fucking much
i need a  summary

Verse 2:
off the stacy I’m ruthless 
my brother pouring bruises
hitting from the back 
now she calling out Brutus 
you a rat 
you a mole
you a rufus
all bark hard to bite when you toothless
I know we been through this
underground Judas
all y’all get bea, hog tied, 
executed 

Interlude: SQUEAL

Chorus 3:
hanging out the mother fucking 4Runner
you get done up in your crib
make ‘em all suffer
I got a 3D print a gun 
that ain’t got no numbers
leave a bomb by that morherfucking pipeline 
be like me kids 
do it’s for the culture 

black water nisour how the clip gone
and I got that stolen Valor fit on 
fuck the troops but they really got that shit on
Louieville slugger 
how the fuck I get my swing on

SQUEAL CITY

STOLEN VALOR FIT

MOSA.TECH - INTERLUDE//JPEGMAFIA -1539 N. Calvert

JPEGMAFIA REMIX

A Soldier's Heart

Blood Upon the Risers

h0Wh1

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.