for 6 percussionists & electronics
Recording of the McGill Percussion Ensemble performance directed by Fabrice Marandola.
Notes
Tourmaline is a piece for 6 percussionists & electronics, commissioned by Robert McCormick and the USF Percussion Ensemble. Tourmaline is a crystal boron silicate mineral compounded with elements such as aluminum, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. It is classified as a semi-precious stone and the gem comes in a wide variety of shapes and colors. Tourmaline is an exploration of gesture and texture, in which at moments the gesture becomes the texture and the texture becomes the gesture. It consists of physical gestures, such as pulling a rubber band back and releasing, stretching, accelerating and braking. The electronics are derived from the sound of resonant almglocken(tuned cowbells), woodblocks, and various percussion instruments. The almglock sound was then processed to create a shepard tone, which is a auditory illusion of a constantly rising or descending pitch. The pitch material in the mallet instruments are derived from a spectral analysis of the almglock shepard tone.
PERFORMANCES
April 15, 2012 // USF Concert Hall, Tampa, FL
Conductor: Robert McCormick
Percussionists: Alan Bonko, Joey Bordeau, Kevin Cross, Amanda DeZee, Beran Harp
Electronics: Aaron Hutcheson
April 3, 2013 // Pollack Hall, Montréal, QC
Conductor: Fabrice Marandola