Suitcase of Sounds for percussion quartet

During the past few years I have been thinking of strategies for taking music to the audience rather than expecting an audience to congregate at a formal concert venue.  There are now pop-up shops, art galleries, craft workshops… and so the idea for a pop-up performance of portable percussion was considered with Suitcase of Sounds being the first in a series of percussion music that can be performed almost anywhere.

The work has been written for hand percussion instruments: woodblock, tambourines, tamborim (Brazilian drum), finger cymbals, shaker, guiro, temple block, triangle, cabasa and some percussion effects: sandpaper blocks, whip, bowl and flexatone all which should fit into a small suitcase.

Musically the opening section is a fugue for sandpaper blocks of different grades (or pitches) that develops with the introduction of metallic sounds.  The third section is based on a tango for wooden sounds with the addition of some effects before the final tarantella featuring tambourines and hand drums.  During the work there are periods with strict rhythmic drive contrasting with periods of unconfined sounds that reveal some of the interesting and versatile attributes of percussion instruments.

The exact list of instruments is:

Percussion 1   Sandpaper blocks, cabasa, wooden shaker, headed tambourine.

Percussion 2   Sandpaper blocks, finger cymbals, castanets, flexatone, tamborim.

Percussion 3   Sandpaper blocks, wooden guiro, temple block, hand drum.

Percussion 4   Sandpaper blocks, triangle, whip or slapstick, wood block, brass bowl with knitting needle, tambourine with stick.

The score (13 pages) and parts (4 pages each) are in A4 format in the 3.4MB download.