This work is written for a three-octave vibraphone, with the vibraphonist utilizing four mallets (two in each hand), and a six-string guitar (acoustic or electric) in traditional E-A-D-G-B-E tuning.
Although mathematical precision is neither expected nor desired, it is intended that the performers strive to bring out the shadings of note values, dynamics, articulation and phrasing so as to imbue the work with a sense of the improvisatory and to bring to life the multiplicity of voices and the ever-shifting flow of the music. One important feature of this work is the sudden, short-lived and localized speeding up and slowing down of the musical line. Another important feature of this work is the rapid exchanges of music between the two instruments. The performers should strive to keep these exchanges “lively.” As has just been noted, mathematical precision is not expected. This holds true for the vibraphone’s polyrhythmic passages in the second movement; the intent was to create a shimmering sound, a “buzz” of activity, which would stand in contrast to the guitar’s music.
The seven movements of this piece are played without pause, other than what has been written into the score. The metronome speed remains the same from movement to movement and is constant within each movement. Played at the indicated metronome marking, the work ought to last just under eight minutes.
