Percussion. Composers love it for its diversity, its flexibility and the timbral options for striking, plucking, rubbing, scraping or otherwise interacting with a musical or found object. This month we're thrilled to offer a wonderful hour of percussive and rhythm-centred works. From marimba solos evoking animals, Tuscan sunsets, or Greek mythology, to improvisation, polyrhythms or prepared harpsichord, this playlist is as diverse as ever and the resulting sounds are wide-ranging, always with the particularly heightened quality brought by percussive gestures and physicality.  This month's playlist image was photographed by Making Waves Intern and composer Mark Wolf: we see the corrugations in a metal fence, undulating like waves, shadows cast by the sunlight.  We also, like many composers, see an instrument!

Did you know that we're about to release our very first podcast series? It's called the Making Conversation: Australian Podcast and it drops on iTunes and everywhere else on Friday April 21, 2017, with one episode released weekly. The team can not wait to share these amazing conversations with Making Waves listeners and podcast fans!  Find out more: makingwavesnewmusic.com/podcast

Percussive Waves (April 2017)

Tristan Coelho

Email: tristancoelho@hotmail.com

Concert Music

End of year playlist from Making Waves:  this is a marathon collection of all Soundcloud tracks featured in playlists this year.  Your holiday listening sorted!

2017 Waves

Four-part temporal canon for percussion quartet. Performed by the Australian National Academy of Music.

Canon Y

Performed by the ECCE Ensemble

Diamanda Dramm – violin
Szymon Kaça – bass clarinet
Virginie Tarrête – harp
László Hudacsek – percussion
Jean-Philippe Wurtz – conductor

Ripples (violin, bass clarinet, harp, percussion)

Performed by Ensemble Offspring

Lamorna Nightingale – alto flute
Jason Noble – bass clarinet
Elizabeth Welsh – violin
Geoffrey Gartner – cello 
Claire Edwardes – percussion
Zubin Kanga – piano

Recording courtesy of ABC Classic FM

read/write error (mixed ensemble)

Alicia Crossley – tenor recorder
Emily Granger – harp

treetops/rooftops (tenor recorder and harp)

Responsibility

A response to the lives lost in Paris, November 2015. The piece attempts to portray the confused but overwhelmingly energised inner workings of a young, fanaticised mind and give form to their misshapen and distorted reality.

Works by playwright Wole Soyinka influenced my choice of perspective when approaching this topic. 

… the shadowy one, the waiter-stalker, a youth
 Fed on dreams of sarabands of houris
 Doe-eyed virgins, wine and sweetmeats in the afterlife 
But to his paradise, a key - the plunging knife. 

an excerpt from Samarkand
by Wole Soyinka

The Fanatic or I Am Right You Are Dead

From 'The Homeric Hymns'

In Greek mythology, Hermes was the Olympian god of boundaries and transitions. He was depicted as a capricious and astute character able to move freely between the mortal and divine worlds. Hermes was an emissary for the gods; a conciliator between the mortals and the divine. He was also charged with guiding souls into the afterlife.

Hymn to Hermes

Commissioned by Samantha Wolf for International Women's Day 2016 concert: This Will Be Our Reply. First performed on 7th March 2016 by Tamara Kohler, Gemma Tomlinson, Aaron Klein, & Adam McMillan.

There is usually more complexity on the inside than what is initially seen.

"On the Inside" explores the many aspects of identity throughout a woman’s life, from growth to complexity, (as opposed to innocence to uselessness). It rejects the idea that women are to be seen as objects only, that a woman’s value lies in her physical attributes and functionality to another. 

Musically, this piece started with a single small motif that is heard about a third of the way in, which I then grew and developed continuously. Despite rejecting external ideals, aspects that might be perceived as "beauty" have been retained because, like all characteristics, beauty is not something to be ashamed of or feared.

On The Inside

Tambuco Percussion Ensemble:
Ricardo Gallardo
Alfredo Bringas
Raúl Tudón
Miguel González

Recording Engineer: Kimmo Vennonen

Smell of the Earth (percussion quartet)

[text by Rhys Nixon, composed && performed by Dan Thorpe].

going wild here on the footpath

a dog looked at me, walked away

going to buy a dog off amazon after getting something to eat

send pictures of dogs to strangers

no one sends any back

windows fogged up 

cant see inside

 

what am i doing between tabs i’m not looking at

another day, another empty mail box

no we don’t want to subscribe to your newsletter

no we are happy with our bandwidth 

no we don’t care about your coupons

no this letter isn’t meant for us


been waiting outside way too long

yes, it’s exactly what it looks like, more than one train approaching

walk down the street in pajamas, will people even look 

they glance and mutter

they really do need to subscribe

looks like their bandwidth is low

probably uses coupons

 

walking on footpaths, broken rubbish bag

empty milk bottles rolling into gutters

think of picking them up

we don’t, look at the bus drive past

everyone waiting

 

i can use this, open a store, sell my ideas

watches don’t tell the time, coffee tastes like water

inbuilt spelling mistake maker

automatic Facebook liker

app that answers the door

service that compares all the dogs in your area

white noise dream catcher

 

if i tackled a police officer would people stop me

or will the police officer step aside

consider this while waiting for a coffee

consider this while you exit the train station

consider that the police officer 

didn’t look at you

 

i walked into traffic and all the cars stopped politely, 

the drivers weren't watching me

if you were waiting for me

i’m sorry about that

it must be the water

can i get a drink

 

i’ll look at a sad picture and not feel the need to cry

until someone says ‘wow that made me cry a lot’

we’ll walk to the bank

take all our money

throw it on the road

watch cars drive over it

pick it up and deposit it again

 

don’t worry about it, honestly, 

i’ll make sure to stand up straighter

and meet up with friends

we’ll be the friendliest people

on the end of our street

in our complex

in our combined bank account

linked to our insurance company

 

bury my face in funny videos

don’t want to know anymore

turn the volume down here so i wont be noticed

give up sleeping

stay up every day

everything feels blue

we won’t be photographed

Considerate

What can we do, there's nothing to do,
about sickness and hunger and dying.
What can we do, there's nothing to do,
nothing but cursing and crying.

Find something to burn.
Let it go up in smoke.
burn your troubles away.

Sometimes it's witches or what will you choose?
Sometimes it's lunatics, shut them away.
It's blacks and it's women and often it's Jews.
We's all be quite happy if they'd go away.

Find something to burn.
Let it go up in smoke.
burn your troubles away.

The lyrics of Caryl Churchill from her play 'Vinegar Tom'. Performed and composed by ALPHAMALE (https://soundcloud.com/dad-dreams) and Marlene Claudine Radice. This piece premiered in COUP Canberra's 2016 production of Vinegar Tom.
http://www.agac.com.au/2016/12/the-musicians-of-vinegar-tom/

Cut Common interview with Hannah and Marlene: http://www.cutcommonmag.com/how-can-we-use-music-to-achieve-social-change/

Something To Burn

Written for KARAK Percussion - two marimbas. 

Squirrels In Hyde Park

Written for KARAK Percussion (two marimbas). This piece was inspired by a poor lonely Kookaburra - silent in his cage - surrounded by tropical noisy birds at the zoo. The warped version of the song "Kookaburra Sits on the Old Gum Tree" is used - but  unrecognisably...

Kookaburra Sits In Antwerp Zoo

Fantasy for Strings (string orchestra)

I am an Australian-born composer of concert music and music for screen as well as an experienced arranger and orchestrator. I enjoy collaborating on a range of projects from small scale short films to advertising, feature scores and live performances.

My scores cover a range of genres from orchestral to electronic and popular styles. My turn-around is fast, I can capture a mood quickly and can provide tracks to suit all requirements.

I have written for numerous ensembles and performing arts organisations including the Melbourne and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, members of the New York Philharmonic, Kammer Ensemble, the Song Company, Orkest de Ereprijs, Chronology Arts, the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra and the Composers’ Ensemble. My orchestration and arrangement credits include work for Japanese video game composer Hitoshi Sakimoto, Australian composer Matthew Hindson, oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.

My training includes an undergraduate degree in composition from the Sydney Conservatorium of music as well as a masters from the Royal College of Music, London.

For a full bio and examples of my work please visit: www.tristancoelho.com

Email: tristan@tristancoelho.com