Echolocate (2021)
for Marimba and Saxophone (Soprano/alto)
21 minutes
Program Notes
Echolocation is a system for spatial navigation whereby an animal emits a call into their surrounding environment, listens for echoes of that call, and uses that information to locate and identify objects near them. My piece, Echolocate, alludes to this process over its three movements: Call, Reflect, and Return. In the first movement, Call, the saxophone and marimba create a sense of anticipation. Bright, fanfare-like figurations unfurl cascading patterns that move up and down the instruments. The second movement, Reflect, is a waiting game: a moment of repose as we listen for the reflections from the initial call. Here, the music eases into a slower tempo as the saxophone traces a lyrical line against the marimba’s languid accompaniment. As we wait for sound to return, we feel a longing for a sense of place in an otherwise obscured space. Finally, in Return, the reflection arrives. Echoes from the initial call come rushing back. The music unfolds in a tight canon, a device that is itself a kind of echo. The parts, offset by just one sixteenth note, grow in intensity as the piece tumbles towards an abrupt conclusion.
Echolocate was commissioned by Andrew Hutchens and Daniel Myers. It premiered October 26, 2021 at the University of South Carolina School of Music.
Instrument List
Marimba (5 Octave)
Soprano Saxophone
Alto Saxophone
Video
Performances
March 14, 2024 North American Saxophone Alliance, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK. Kyle Jones & Matthew Overbay.
October 11, 2022 Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC. Hutchens/Myers Duo.
May 28, 2022 Cortona Sessions, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL. Hutchens-Myers Duo.
March 17, 2022 Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Hutchens/Myers Duo.
December 1, 2021 University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC. Hutchens/Myers Duo.