Instrumentation: vibraphone and electronics
Duration: 10 minutes

Commissioned by: Joseph Van Hassel, with funding from a Live Arts Boston grant from The Boston Foundation.
World Premiere: October 29, 2018. Framingham State University. Framingham, Massachusetts

Score:
Contact composer.

Program Note:
Fracture splits the vibraphone into a two part counterpoint between noise and pitch. The noise/percussion part utilizes a myriad of percussive sounds extracted from the vibraphone using chopsticks, brushes, and rattan sticks playing all over the instrument, including the frame and resonators, while the pitched part is played with mallets in the traditional manner. These two pieces for the most part develop independently, although they do interact with each other from time to time, dancing around each other and moving in a more or less parallel direction. The electronics gradually build as the piece progresses, acting as an extension of both the pitch and noise parts. The pitched part is extended through rhythmically irregular loops that are recorded live by the performer, while the noise part is extended through samples drawn from a diverse array of musical works of many different genres. Each sample corresponds precisely to a specific pattern or rhythm played on the vibraphone.