Supervocalic

Listen to the work here!
(Note: The audio accompaniment which will be sent upon the purchase of the score is different from the audio accompaniment featured in the performance linked above, in that it contains no samples. The audio accompaniment used in this premiere performance is meant strictly for that premiere, and for non-commercial use only.)
 
Supervocalic is a high-energy work for solo tambourine and fixed audio accompaniment. “Supervocalic” is a term to describe words in the English language that contain each vowel exactly once, i. e. one A, one E, one I, one O, and one U. It might be noticed that cleverly, “supervocalic” is in itself a supervocalic word. Another such word is one very familiar to all percussionists: “tambourine”. Because of this unique linguistic quirk of a word so common to the world of contemporary solo percussion composition, I wanted to write a solo for tambourine accompanied by a vowel themed track. The piece moves through five sections, connected by a recurring refrain, which combines elements of EDM with musique concrète. The five sections which explore each of the five vowels also tap into different musical genres within the track, accompanied by different extended technique explorations in the tambourine:
● The A section incorporates half-time trap and R&B musical elements.
● The E section is influenced by gospel and house music.
● The I section is influenced by the fictional genre of “plutonium jazz”.
● The O section is inspired by modern funk, post-minimalism and polytonality.
● The U section turns a water fountain sample into a lofi trap groove.
 
This work was commissioned by Baryl Brandt for his first doctoral recital at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.