Faye-Ellen Silverman
Of Wood and Skins
Year: 2003
Duration (in minutes): 11'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: percussion ensemble, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: percussion
Publisher: Subito Music Corporation
MP3 STREAM: https://soundcloud.com/faye-ellen-silverman/sets/of-wood-and-skins
Description: The title of this work started as a word play on a work of my teacher, Vladimir Ussachevsky, called “Of Wood and Brass”. This work is in five short movements using different combinations of percussion instruments made of wood with those made with “skins”. The definition of “skins”, which refers to percussion drum heads, has been expanded to include clapping – produced by human skin. The first and fifth works mix the two, The second and fourth movements are wood only – two marimbas. And the middle movement is for “skins” – snare drum and bass drum. As most percussion works generally use a wide array of instruments, this work purposely limited the number of percussion instruments involved in the work.