Exotic Particles and the Confinement of Quarks
From Wind Repertory Project
Contents |
General Info
Year: 2004
Duration: c. 8:00
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Freundworks Publishing
Cost: Unknown
Instrumentation
Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Eb Soprano Clarinet
Bb Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
Bb Bass Clarinet
Eb Contra-Alto Clarinet (optional)
Bb Contrabass Clarinet
Soprano Saxophone
Alto Saxophone I-II
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone
Trumpet (in Bb) I-II-III-IV
French Horn I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Basses (optional)
Piano
Celesta (doubles piano part)
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V-VI, including:
- Almglocken (large, F#)
- Bass Drum
- Bongo (High)
- Brake Drum (2)
- Claves
- Cowbell (1 large)
- Crotales (2 octave set)
- Cymbal (4 suspended)
- Cymbal (splash)
- Glockenspiel
- Gongs (3 tuned to G3, Bb3, F#4)
- Hand Drum (medium)
- Lion’s Roar (ossia Bass Drum w/Superball mallet)
- Marimba
- Police Whistle
- Ratchet
- Slide Whistle
- Slit Drum (2 pitches)
- Snare Drum (tuned low)
- Tambourine (1 small, 1 large)
- Tam-tam (2 small, 1large)
- Tom-Toms (3)
- Triangle
- Tubular Bells
- Vibraphone
- Wood Blocks (3)
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
In April of 2004, Indiana University Physics Professor Alex Dierba presented his Distinguished Faculty Research Lecture: Exotic Particles and the Confinement of Quarks. Within the proton’s hot, bubbling cauldron of activity, quarks and glue move at nearly light speed and quarks and anti-quarks pop continuously in and out of existence. When pried even one proton’s width apart (less than one trillionth the size of an atom), quarks experience ten tons of force pulling them together. Quarks are so small that we have not been able to measure their size; they take up less than one billionth of the space inside the proton. Particle accelerators can blast quarts out of a nucleus, but within much less than a billionth of a nanosecond “free” quarks join with the newly created ones and bran new particles are formed.
Now, thanks to the marvels of modern compositional technology, we are able to expand the world of the quark billions and billions of times to produce an aural replica encompassing eight minutes of time and the space and sound range of a large wind ensemble. It is thus possible to hear evanescent particles come into being and disappear, massless neutrinos passing through, and even the moaning low brass of the confined quarks. We are amazed to discover that at this magnification one can even hear the passing of time in bits of a Morse code mantra that seems to take on a syncopated groove. At one point the violent batterings of colliding particles threaten to break this world apart but the superpowerful force of gluon surges to bring things back together.
The depictions and accounts presented in this work are solely those of the composer, and in no way is the IU Department of Physics responsible for their accuracy. Furthermore the Department of Bands cannot be held liable for any disfiguring of the listener’s psycho-acoustic physiology created by the use of the lion’s roar or androgynous C triads (with a quarter tone third).
Exotic Particles and the Confinement of Quarks was written in celebration of the tenure of Ray E. Cramer as IU’s Director of Bands as he prepares for his retirement, which we suspect will be superactive, exotic, and wonderfully quarky.
Program Note by Don Freund
Commercial Discography
None discovered thus far.
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Recent Performances
(To add performances, please join the WRP by contacting the webmaster)
- Florida State University Wind Orchestra (Nikk Pilato, conductor) - 19 February 2007
Additional Works for Winds by this Composer
- Beyond the Brass Gates (1998)
- Earthdance Concerto (2001)
- End of Summer (1990)
- Jug Blues and Fat Pickin' (1986)
- Nativitas! — Fantasy on Perotin's 12th Century Alleluia (1996)
- Outsider (2004)
- Radical Light (1990)
- Southwinds (1994)
- Spinning Rounds (1993)
- The Waste Land: Four Movements after T.S. Eliot (1972)
Additional Resources
