Apex

The instrumentation for Apex represents an amalgamation different percussive sounds: glass bottles, pieces of wood, bell tree, toms, triangle, bongos, kick drum, and snare drum. The word Apex means high point; so much of the music begins at the higher pitched instruments and moves down in contour. This happens many times throughout the piece in each part continually bringing the listener back to the Apex of sound.

Program Notes

Apex was commissioned by and written for Manuel Rodriguez and Billy Sotuyo for their sophomore recitals at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. I thought it would be a good idea to write a piece for them using some of the more interesting sounds I heard in the percussion ensemble repertoire we were playing during the fall semester of 2018; so the instrumentation for Apex represents an amalgamation of those different percussive sounds. Glass bottles, pieces of wood, bell tree, toms, triangle, bongos, kick drum, and snare drum. The word Apex means high point; so much of the music begins at the higher pitched instruments and moves down in contour. This happens many times throughout the piece in each part continually bringing the listener back to the Apex of sound.

Grade Level: 4
Copyright: 2019
Number of Players: 2
Duration: 6:20

Listen to Recordings

Sample PDF

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Instrumentation

Percussion 1 (Bell Tree, Bongos, Small Snare Drum, Kick Drum, 2 Triangles)
Percussion 2 (2 Glass Bottles, 3 Pieces of Wood, 4 Tom-Toms)