Rock Paper Scissors

Russell Wharton

General Info

Year: 2020
Duration: c. 6:05
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Tapspace Publications
Cost: Score (print) and Parts (digital) - $38.00; (digital) - $37.00 | Score Only (print) - $12.00; (digital) - $12.00

Instrumentation

Full score
Percussion, (4 players), including:

Bass Drum
"High Drums" (4)
Kick Drum (mounted)
Metal Pipes (12)
Woodblocks (8: 4 high, 4 low)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Rock Paper Scissors is a work for percussion quartet by Russell Wharton. In it, three types of instruments (wood, skin, and metal) are used to represent rock, paper, and scissors. Through the musical material, these instruments also have their own musical personalities. The woods play hocketed 16th notes, the skins play aggressive polyrhythms and the metals hint at a 5:4 metric modulation. Though in the end they maintain their individual characteristics, these sound families exert influence on one another, just like the classic score-settling game played by millions across the world.

This piece was composed for the Four/One Percussion Quartet (Mitchell Beck, Paul Millette, Steven Partida, and Russell Wharton) and was premiered at Indiana University on March 25, 2018.

- Program Note from publisher

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble unknown

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Mississippi State University (Starkville) Percussion Ensemble - 2021
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Percussion Ensemble – 25 March 2018
Four/One Percussion Quartet – 25 March 2018 *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by This Composer

Faces (2015)
Rock Paper Scissors (2020)

Resources

Perusal score
Russel Wharton website Accessed 24 August 2021