Cabal Sacrifice

This is a composition I did for university, a percussion duet for tam-tam (gong) and 3 timpani. I wrote it basically in one night, not long before the deadline actually! I was really struggling with writing for 2 percussion players, but thankfully I managed to make something that worked before it was too late. I was adamant I would create a composition that I liked rather than settling with something that simply fulfilled the brief. I knew I wanted to use a tam-tam after completing my composition 'Static March' because it allowed me to create something not strictly rhythmic. Although this is more rhythmic than Static March, I think it has a few moments where you can forget the tempo a bit. I would have liked to use 4 timpani, but uni only has 3 and we had to compose for instruments at the uni. Anyway, Enjoy!

Cabal Sacrifice

I couldn't criticize much about your piece - I was expecting a classic percussion cadence, the usual marching-percussion type. I found this quite pleasant in the end. I did find one thing odd, though, at mss. 31-34. Your notation seems unclear, what do you intend the percussionist to do exactly?

Glad you enjoyed it. Are you on about the bit with the diamond symbol in the tam tam part? Thats where the player scrapes the side of the gong with a metal beater, but I totally forgot to put a legend at the start to show what it meant Silly me!