Book Between Bookends, for percussion trio, includes one score.
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Review from Percussive Notes (2021):
Book Between Bookends
Alan Sentman
It is always exciting to explore the vastness of the percussion world. This is true for “Book Between Bookends,” which explores the nature of “percussion” as it relates to everyday objects and to ourselves: in this case, books and gestures/spoken word, respectively. There are several “chapters,” so to speak, and each one includes different instructions for how the movement is to be performed. The notation varies, but tends to be more akin to graphic notation than to traditional Western Classical structures. In this way, a great deal of the work is left to the performer, resulting in unique performances dependent on decision and elements of chance.
The overall structure of the piece is reminiscent of speaking aloud chapters of a book. For example, there are demarcated silences, and each “movement” of the piece is like a new chapter in a book, thus giving the impression of reading aloud, while using the mixture of words, gestures, and the sounds of the books as the percussive elements. The performance directions do not indicate an order of the movements, or whether they should be performed as a set, so it seems as though this could be played as a whole or in parts.
This would be excellent for a college trio or professional concert, or even as an impromptu performance at a local bookstore. Whatever the setting, this piece is sure to delight the audience with its intriguing exploration of book sounds and spoken word.
—Cassie Bunting
Demo:
