Scandinavian Dances

Listen to the work here!
 
Scandinavian Dances is a character suite in five movements for five percussionists, with each movement and each percussion part inspired by one of the five Nordic countries (technically speaking, “Scandinavian” is a slight misnomer). The instrumentation is as follows:
Percussion 1 (Denmark): Snare Drum, Cowbell, Woodblock, Splash Cymbal
Percussion 2 (Norway): Suspended/China/Sizzle Cymbals, Ratchet, Tambourine, Wine Glass, Sandpaper Blocks (one mounted), Conga, Ocean Drum
Percussion 3 (Iceland): Marimba (4.3 Octave), Crotales (2-Octaves), Kick Drum, Tambourine
Percussion 4 (Sweden): Bongos, Djembe, 3 Tom-Toms, Bass Drum
Percussion 5 (Finland): Xylophone, Bells, Triangle, Cowbell, Woodblock
 
This character suite takes the lighthearted jokes that members of the Nordic countries might make about the others’ economies and uses those as jumping off points for each movement, and each percussion part. In each of the five movements, the percussionist whose part’s country aligns with the country represented by that movement is treated as the solo voice for that movement. In this way, each movement may be seen as a work for one solo percussionist and an accompanying quartet. Denmark with its white-collar jobs is a march featuring the snare drum; Norway and its proliferation of fishing is a 6/8 tune featuring an accessory setup; Iceland and its rolling hills of adventure is a ballad featuring the marimba (incorporating Iceland’s national anthem), Sweden and its industrial factories create a mixed meter drum feature; and Finland with its proliferation of important conversations happening in saunas creates a rondo which features the xylophone (also incorporating Finland’s national anthem).