Deus Ex Metronome (2018)
Solo snare drum and playback track
7:20
The BOSS DB-90 Dr. Beat Metronome has been with me almost my entire musical life. I owe it a great debt of gratitude, as I have learned as much (or more) from the it as I have from any teacher. Though the Doctor has helped me build my skills as a musician, we have not yet gotten the chance to perform together. So, I decided that it would be fun if Dr. Beat and I got to play a little tune together. Written for solo snare drum with audio accompaniment, Deus Ex Metronome is the result.
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In the audio track, one hundred percent of the samples were recorded into Logic Pro X directly from my DB-90. I then used the EXS-24 mkII to create several different synths from those samples, including some synths that only consist of a single sample pitched across an entire keyboard (all of the high “clicks” or “blips” are simply the DB-90’s metronome sounds pitch-bent up several octaves). In order to “fill out” the sound and maximize clarity, the tracks were then produced using EQ, automation, cutoff filters, compression, reverb, and other effects. My good friend and colleague Matthew Kilby was a major help in the production of the audio track.
For the solo part, I wanted to create something that would appeal to
the consortium who commissioned the work (and the general audience of “people who enjoy snare drum solos with audio”) while using a compositional vocabulary that sounded fresh and engaging to any listener. I knew that in order for this piece to be engaging it needed to be centered around rhythmic interest, rather than rudimental vocabulary.
Around the time I began this piece, I found myself engrossed in Kendrick Lamar’s album DAMN. Kendrick’s talent as a rapper is well-known, but I found myself particularly drawn to the rhythmic structure of his verses, and in particular his use of odd groupings. A particularly interesting way to listen to Kendrick is to do so while following along with the lyrics. Quite often, he moves between lines or rhymes in a way that is in contrast to the beat. To put it more academically, Lamar’s rhyme and verse structure contain a certain ‘harmonic rhythm’ that he often uses in juxtaposition with the established meter. I found this technique to be intellectually stimulating and very enjoyable to listen to, so I attempted to incorporate it into this piece. For an excellent example of this, listen to the song FEEL.
This piece also owes a great deal to Tigran Hamasyan, Phronesis, and Mark Guiliana.
The program notes reference the Kendrick Lamar song “FEEL”. The rhythms in that song are infused all throughout this piece, but the most obvious reference occurs at measure 58 (2:15 in my video). Compare that section to 2:16 in “FEEL” - “I feel heartless…”. The similarities between those two sections is intentional.
In measure 117, most performers choose to play an alternate rhythm that is a callback to the opening theme (measures 4-6). Specifically, inserting the triplet figure on beat 3 of measure 5 into the 5-over-4 framework of measure 117. I did so in my performance video from Four/Ten media as an improvisation, and it seemed to have stuck with most players who have picked up the piece. It’s an illogical rhythm, so I’ve been content to let players decide on their own, and have appreciated the attention to detail it has taken for those players to notice that small figure in the first place.
For a reference, see 4:21 in this video: https://youtu.be/CAo1hdjhIzE?si=l3c7doHu5KmOfA-6&t=255
Just for fun, here’s what the rhythm would look like if it were to be written out:
As I said, pretty illogical!
Measures 118-122 - I was struggling to come up with a transition here, when my friend and composer Mitchell Beck came into the room. I expressed to him that I was stuck on this section, and he sat down at my computer and edited what I had written in the quirky, broken back-and-forth between the drums and the bass. We both found his edit to be very funny and in the spirit of the piece, so it stuck. I suppose I owe Mitchell a percentage of the royalties I’ve earned from this piece!
The beat at letter I is a direct reference to Tigran Hamasyan’s “Kars 1”, specifically the section at 3:20 in that song. The player should feel the “big beat” - the headbanging groove of the drums - as they perform this section.
Reflection
This piece began as a joke, or rather, a funny “what if?” I was in grad school at Indiana University at the time, sitting with my friends in the lounge between practice breaks, and fiddling with a Dr. Beat. I made the comment “what if I wrote a whole piece just using these sounds?” It was intended as just a joke, but as the day progressed, the idea turned around in my head until I realized “oh, that might actually be a lot of fun…” I thought that the idea had the potential to become a piece filled with humor and surprise. I sat down the next day and wrote out the section that would eventually be letter G to I. That section, especially letter H, remains my favorite part of the piece to this day.
Consortium Members
I’d like to offer my sincerest gratitude to the consortium of people who helped make this piece a possibility. The consortium was led by my longtime friend Dr. Francisco Perez, and includes many great friends and excellent musicians:
Alejandro Alvarino
Cary Anderson
Christopher Butler
Erick Eckstrom
Andrew Eldridge
Dave Hall
Brady Harrison
Melinda Leoce
Jeremy Maytum
Paul Millette
Travis Newman
Francisco Perez
Mikey Sheeran
Nathan Rearick
Jamie Vilsek
Matthew West
Timing
More than anything, Deus Ex Metronome is a piece about rhythm. I have always been fascinated by the expressive and emotional qualities that can be communicated with rhythms alone. Tension, release, rhyme, intensity, stillness, humor, violence - all of these can be expressed without any of the other major elements of music, and Deus Ex Metronome is my attempt to do just that.
To that end, perfection in timing is crucial to a convincing performance of this piece. There are parts of this piece with a “loose” feel to the rhythms, especially the areas with the quintuplet rhythms mixed in. However, those “loose” rhythms should still be performed with as much accuracy as possible, with a rigid interpretation of the beat.
One way we build tension in this piece is the way the rhythms dance around the beat in odd groupings. As we do so, the moments where the odd groupings land back on the beat give a sense of “release” as the answer to the tension. Here are a few important checkpoints that offer that release:
Measure 15, beat 4
Measure 16, beat 4
Measure 41, beat 4
Measure 48, beat 4
Measure 50, beat 3
Measure 54, beat 1
Measure 56, beat 1
Measure 61, beat 4
Measure 82, beat 3
Measure 86, beat 3
Measure 91, beat 4
Measure 98, beat 3