Talea by Dan Adams Percussion Ensemble - Sheet Music

SKU: CN.05670

Latin percussion performance and Medieval composition techniques are combined in "Talea" to create unusual musical patterns and colors. Although the piece is scored as a sextet, additional players may be added to any and all parts and it may be used for study, performance, or both.

Latin percussion performance and Medieval composition techniques are combined in "Talea." The piece is named for a repeated figure characteristic of the Ars Nova isorhythmic motet. This figure was combined with an independently repeated pitch succession called a color. The result is a musical pattern in which pitch and rhythmic repetition coincide only periodically. Originally conceived as part of a larger multi-movement composition, "Talea" is based on several simultaneous isorhythmic patterns. The color of each line is based on indefinitely-pitched percussion sounds rather than actual pitches. The piece is in 5/4 meter throughout. The triangle opens with a steady eighth-note pattern consisting of a regular succession of open and muffled strokes. The cowbell, conga, and woodblock enter in a pattern of quarter notes that forms a three-against-four-against-five cross-rhythm. The claves, bongos, temple blocks, and tom-toms play repeated patterns that repeat every three, seven, eleven, and thirteen beats, respectively. Although "Talea" is scored as a sextet, additional players may be added to any and all parts and it may be used for study, performance, or both.