Metal Light

Description

Vibraphone, Unpitched Percussion, Cymbal — The work is scored for vibraphone (played with four mallets) and four metals, low to high. The metals should have different pitches and should be chosen so that they can be played with vibraphone mallets (such as cowbells and almglocken). One set of mallets should be used for the entire piece. The cymbal is a normal suspended cymbal. In most cases, the metals, placed behind the vibraphone, will be played with the right hand. Exceptions might be found as, for example, in m. 35.Vibraphone pedaling is sometimes indicated: feather (gently pumping the pedal up and down), no pedal and held pedal. Commissioned by the Percussive Arts Society, this piece for one solo percussionist on vibraphone and metals is equally at home with vibrant, motoric, staccato passages as it is with feathery light whispers, notes blending together gently with the vibraphone pedal. The addition of metals, usually indeterminate or noisy in pitch, brightens and enriches the sound world of the vibraphone, making for a sophisticated palette. Like Lansky's other works for percussion, this piece will be a beloved addition to the advanced percussionist's repertoire.