Archaic Rhapsody

Listen to the work here!
 
Archaic Rhapsody is a solo work for slide whistle, the instrument being envisioned as the realization of a prehistoric flute, through which a perhaps prehistoric song can be heard. The primary extended technique featured to create this otherworldly sound is the combination of sung and whistled material, both directed through the body of the instrument. This creates an effect similar to overtone singing and various vocal polyphonies found throughout the study of early music, although with an easier to control sense of counterpoint. Musically, the piece begins with an exploration of this timbre, as the voice and whistle tones elide through and mimic each other. Diatonic melodies begin to grow out of this texture, each instrumental line given the opportunity to move against the other’s drone like a duet that plays out inside the body. The counterpoint and trading of voices becomes denser and denser, through to a fever pitch, until the performer is left breathless, the opening sparsity of the work having been transformed to the vocalization of exhaustion by the work’s end. Through this use of extended techniques and vocalizations, the slide whistle is transformed from an icon of absurdism and irreverence to a controlled and emotionally reserved vehicle for connecting humans to our past.
 
This work and four other solo percussion works constitute The Empathy Cycle, connected by their themes of love, understanding, and the resilience of human kindness.