"bell patterns" was originally written for four desk bells and one vibraphone. During the pandemic when the four of us went into quarantine, we reimagined the piece using four tuned wine glasses and some other found pitched sounds like ceramic bowls, metal pipes, and wooden slats.
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"bell patterns" was written for percussion quartet, and is scored for one vibraphone and four tuned desk bells. The piece was composed using a simple numbers sequence. The harmonic interplay and composite rhythms that result however are quite complex. Each member of the quartet is assigned a different number (2, 3, 4 and 5). Different rhythmic cells are constructed using these numbers, and are then looped on top of each other.
While writing this piece I began to explore how two or more rhythms of different speeds could layer on top of each other to create composite melodies and rhythms. When two rhythms of different speeds are played simultaneously they often are characterized as sounding dissonant. This is also referred to as a polyrhythm. It was my goal with bell patterns to find the lowest common subdivision of four seemingly dissonant rhythms, and slow them down to the point where they all shared a similar consonant pulse. Further, when you assign certain partials of one player’s rhythm to a bell sound for instance, and the rest of their pitches on a vibraphone, you are able to more clearly perceive a macro and micro pulse happening simultaneously. The juxtaposition of these slow and fast rhythms is woven throughout the form and functions as the primary compositional structure in the work.
-Victor Caccese
21 сен 2024
