Inside the Shining Stone (digital download)

Inside the Shining Stone was inspired by the sacred spaces of ancient Egypt and conceived to be performed in the sacred places of Norway.

Not long after Josh Knight asked me to compose a work for multiple-percussion, I was invited to perform in a series of concerts in Norway. The concerts were part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations in the city of Stavanger, and their theme was a coming together of the Christian and Islamic worlds. When I learned that the venues for each of the five concerts would be historic churches, I was inspired to finish the piece immediately so that it could be performed in Norway.

As I wrote the piece, I thought of my visit to the pyramids in Giza and of being inside the burial chamber of the Pyramid of Khafre. The resonance of the stone room was incredible and my friends and I talked of how amazing it would be to play drums inside the chamber. I thought of building a connection between the stone pyramids of Egypt and the stone churches of Europe. The first performance of Inside the Shining Stone was given inside the stone Ruinkirke in Sola. The Ruinkirke was originally constructed in the 1100’s, destroyed during World War II, and rebuilt from ruins in the 1990‘s. The final Norwegian performance was given five nights later at the 12th century cathedral in Stavanger (Stavanger Domkirke).

The piece is made up of traditional rhythms that are layered, transformed, broken apart and reassembled. This represents the idea of reassembling the past from fragments of ruins. Although there are often three voices existing at once, no more than two are heard simultaneously. While the piece is structured, the structure is sometimes incomplete or “incorrectly” assembled, just as ancient ruins sometimes are. I also attempt to create a blurring of pulse and time. This is representative of the feeling one has when standing in and around the pyramids, and of the overwhelming power of history.

The “shining stone” is a reference to the original outer layers of the pyramids. Covered with white limestone, the pyramids would shine in the sun and glow in the light of the moon.

Instrumentation and performance notes

Inside the Shining Stone is written for five drums and five crotales. The drums are notated on the five lines of the staff and are, from bottom to top, bass drum (unmuffled, or very lightly muffled), two toms (double-headed if possible), and two bongos. For the drums, a mallet with a hard felt ball is recommended (ProMark SD6). The crotales should be played with a hard mallet at the beginning and end of the work. In the inner sections of the piece, they should be played with the wood of the stick or, where indicated, with the felt end of the mallet in order to avoid audible attacks.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Josh Knight, who commissioned the work, for allowing me to premiere the piece in Norway. Josh gave the American premiere at the University of Oklahoma in 2010. Thanks are also extended to Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen-Pilch who invited me to perform in Norway. She believed in the idea of the piece and, without hearing a note, programmed it as the opening work of the concerts. Each night the bells of the church would ring for five minutes. As the last bell faded away, the lights would dim and I would begin Inside the Shining Stone. It was an unforgettable experience to perform the work in those spaces.