Artisans' Dance

Listen to the work here!
 
Artisans’ Dance is a work for a percussion ensemble consisting of nine players,
designed to fit comfortably within the percussion set-up of a wind band or orchestra, thus allowing the percussion section of such an ensemble to showcase the full potential of percussion instruments during a wind band concert, without devoting exorbitant time to set changes. The instrumentation is as follows: Glockenspiel (with Shaker and Woodblock), Xylophone, Vibraphone, Marimba (2 players on 1 instrument), Snare Drum, Bass Drum, Timpani, Crash Cymbals. Musically, the work is a strophic piece in a dance style, inspired by the pastoral harmonies and characteristic melodic figures of 20th century British composers such as Percy Grainger, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Gustav Holst. Connections to these composers may increase ensemble directors’ desires to include this work in a program of wind band or orchestral literature. The invoking of artisans in the title suggests the revelry of pre-industrial creativity and slower-paced, easier, more community-oriented living, and possibly a desire to reawaken this sense of community in the present day.