Lift Off by Russell Peck
Set-up/Equipment
- Each of the 3 performers has three bass drums (low, middle, high)
- Every middle drum should be higher than any low drum and lower than any high drum
- Hollow stick= soft stick // darkened stick= hard stick
- Calf skin heads should be used if available
- Ideally, piece should be played from memory without a conductor
Features
- Fairly wide dynamic range
- 3 against 2 rhythm
- Interlocking bass drum rhythms between players
- 3 groupings of sixteenths within 4/4 framework
- Polymeter (pg. 10)
- Metric modulation (pg.11)
- Page 13 to the end is all about dynamic swells. Each part must be very prcise
Peck notes that "to achieve the proper effect great care must be given to the coordination of crescendo and diminuendo. One player gradually increases dynamic exactly as the other decreases. If these are matched perfectly the sound will seem to move smoothly from one player to the other."