One Buzzy Evening (2017) for tenor trombone and percussion

Abstract

One Buzzy Evening (2017) for tenor trombone and percussion is a creative musicological work that explores the gradual transformation of limited motivic ideas, both rhythmic and melodic. Moving from a percussive sound world to a mixture with melodic sounds, the piece attains structural logic by foregrounding its dialogic character in the form of call and response and/or imitations, as well as through pointillism. It simulates the Kiganda xylophone technique in the vibraphone and, more interestingly, employs a distorted version of a pentatonic scale. In doing so, the piece blends indigenous Kiganda musical idioms and processes, as well as Western techniques, while intentionally concealing the former.