Welcome!
Last year, amidst marching band and indoor percussion writing, I had the headspace and creative energy to explore composing for classical percussion solo/ensemble. I had an idea for a marimba quartet that I needed to get out onto manuscript paper. It would require the players to have agility, finesse, timing expertise and cohesion, and especially (for anyone who knows me) an utmost attention to detail in note accuracy and dynamic shaping.
Artichoke Tango was born.
I began the first draft of this piece while visiting family in the Chicago suburbs, and finished the draft on a plane ride from San Francisco to Hawaii, fulfilling a friends-cation that had been planned in 2019 and was postponed twice due to covid. It felt equally good to finish the piece as it did to arrive to Hawaii!
I wrote the piece originally for four players (with 2 mallets each) on four marimbas. After sending it out to my former student and her peers for a trial run (she's currently studying at UNT), we decided that it wasn't quite necessary to have four marimbas. The piece would work better if all four players could fit on two boards.
Here's the trial run of the first draft, performed by UNT students:
Fast forward to a few months ago when I finished up my most pressing projects and dove back into Artichoke Tango. The revision didn't take as long as I had anticipated, and it really gave me the chance to comb through the piece to make sure all notes, rhythms, dynamics, and articulations were truly intentional.
With the help of a couple of other former students, we worked through the parts (Marimba 1 & 3 on one board, then Marimba 2 & 4 on one board) to make sure everything was playable. I knew there would be a few instances where the players are on the verge of being intimately close, but that's what the tango is all about, right? An energetic dance while being close with your partner*.
The key takeaway was that everything was possible. I did a final alteration of 1.5 measures, and that was that. It's ready to go!
*As a heads up for part assignment purposes, it was decided that M1 & M3 "should be good friends." As with any ensemble piece, communication is key. Enjoy!
An afterthought... "Why is it called Artichoke Tango?"
In the midst of working on the piece, a recipe for Stuffed Artichokes made its way into the kitchen. Bite by bite, what started out as optimistic enthusiasm turned into us all facing the facts of the recipe's outcome. Let's just say that it turned into more of an attempted meal rather than a scrumptious dish. [Read: too many breadcrumbs.]
The story left enough of an impact on me to use this as the name of the piece: Artichoke Tango. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
Thanks for visiting and reading. I can't wait to see groups out there playing this piece. Please let me know if you plan to program it. I'd love to hear from you.
Artichoke Tango can be purchased through C. Alan Publications:
Artichoke Tango - C. Alan Publications (physical copy / digital pdf download)
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