Double Double, Toil and Treble (2012)

Bubble Machine

This piece for SSSAATTBG was written to inaugurate my Great Bass recorder in C, my first instrument outside of the normal SATB quartet. (I’ve since acquired a Contra Bass in F too. Does anyone have a SubGreat for sale at a reasonable price?)

Considering its purpose, it’s no more than natural that this piece strongly features the C bass. In fact, it’s a pretty virtuosic part, where other voices riff over (the AATTB parts), or play static chords (three Sopranos). In fact, this piece barely gives you time to breath, so it’s a good idea to have at least two C basses, alternating and/or overlapping.

Final remark: the time signature of this is 14/16, counted as 4+3+3+4. So that’s two sevens with different divisions. This is a riff off the middle eastern 3+2+2+3 Samai rhythm.

Since I’m giving this away for free, why not buy me a coffee?