the shared breath of the earth for solo timpani (2018)
the shared breath of the earth is a solo for melodic timpani, and a celebration of three characters of nature that live in urban settings. The primary character is between the two middle timpani, and is the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen as plants and animals respirate. The second character comes from a particularly striking memory of mine, walking through a parking lot to get to school and seeing wind pick leaves up in a spiral, before gently dropping them. This is represented with swirling nontuplets that climb up the drums, before gently descending chromatically. Finally, underneath everything else, pieces of the earth shift against one another, their rumbling and roaring embodied in the tumultuous outer drums. These three characters combine and interact with one another, as they work to find a balance within themselves and each other.
Dr. Diana Loomer commissioned the shared breath of the earth for the Melodic Timpani Project