Drum Dances (drum set, percussion ensemble) with Omar Carmenates

Arranged for percussion ensemble by Omar Carmenates.

This work is heavily influenced by jazz and rock drumming, particularly from the late 1980s to early 1990s. Commissioned by Dame Evelyn Glennie, Drum Dances has become a standard for drum kit and piano repertoire. A few of the percussionists who have performed the work have shared its strongest endorsement when they told me, after the performance audience members asked them if they were improvising or if their part was fully notated.

This piece was written during the launch and rise of Chick Corea’s Elektric Band, a band that also revealed the genius of Dave Weckl (along with John Patitucci, Eric Marienthal, and Frank Gambale) to the world. I was mesmerized by the interaction between drums and keyboard in the Elektric Band, and the influence of that music is evident in Drum Dances.  I was greatly inspired by the drumming of Dave Weckl, the very different pianistic styles of Keith Jarret and Chick Corea, and the enormous energy in the music of guitarists like Steve Vai.

Each of the four 'dances' was stimulated by a certain rhythmic interaction possible between two performers. From the chaotic first movement (which is like a game where both players attempt to force each other's cadences), to the ending of the prestissimo fourth movement (where both parts are synchronised) the two performers gradually begin working together instead of battling for priority. The second movement includes a glockenspiel part for the percussionist and the third movement involves a very tight rhythmic interaction, driven by syncopation simultaneously occurring on several levels (from the semiquaver to the crotchet). I still can't accurately count through the drum intro to the third movement....

Drum Dances is dedicated to my wife, Carla.

One of the early milestones of my composing life was receiving a cassette in the mail from Joel Sachs at the Juilliard School in New York. This cassette contained a recording of Drum Dances (the first time I'd heard it performed, beyond my midi demo). I received the tape during a tutorial with a student, and I suggested we listen together. Hearing this work played by Stephen Gosling on piano and Brian Resnick on drum set (both students at the Juilliard at the time), was a moment of powerful landing in my understanding of myself as a composer. I listened to this electrifying performance - by what were probably teenagers - and realised it was possible. I could write the way I wanted to and there were people out there that could play it. It's incredible to think back and understand what permission was granted me in that moment.

Hearing that performance inspired me in a number of ways. The most immediate was the determination to record the piece in a good studio with those specific musicians. There was a special timing at work; I had just started what would become a long and immensely rewarding relationship with a newly-established New Zealand record label, Rattle Records. They had included Matre's Dance on one of their first ever albums Different Tracks.

We started talking about an all-Psathas album. This was in 1997, around the time that I had decided to self-fund travelling to New York for the premiere by the New Juilliard Ensemble of a work they'd commissioned, Stream 3.

I booked into the Hit Factory and spent an incredible day there with Brian and Stephen. These were big experiences, a premiere at the Lincoln Centre, a recording in the same studio space where Billy Joel had recently been recording and where they were making remixes of Seal's songs while I was there. And there I was, with my personal New Zealand-dollar budget. When we ran out of tape (just 20 bars from the end of the last movement) I had to tell the engineer I couldn't afford another reel (they were huge multi-track analog tapes that cost the equivalent of around $500 NZ dollars). To put it into context, I was in NY sleeping on someone's floor, and walkign everywhere because I couldn't afford cabs. The recording engineer, kindly and graciously, cut the lead-in section of the tape-reel (which they normally never record on, for safety reasons), and spliced it on to the end of the reel. We got the last takes recorded just seconds before the tape ran out.

I transported these two massive tape reels back to New Zealand and we transferred them into Steve Garden's digital environment. Drum Dances then became tracks 7-10 on my first ever album Rhythm Spike. Everything else on that album was recorded here in New Zealand and I feel incredibly lucky to have such fantastic recordings and performances of these early works. Rattle secured funding from Creative New Zealand to bring Brian and Stephen - and bassist David Arend - to Wellington. We recorded Stream 3.3 and Spike with them.