Crawling Cobra

Item details

• Description +

  • Crawling Cobra is a visceral musical experience that embodies the sinuous movements of a snake. With a gritty and dynamic blend of drums and unconventional percussive elements, this piece thrusts the listener into the heart of a primal encounter. The addition of chains used to scratch the drums introduces a raw texture, evoking the sensation of scales scraping against rough terrain.
    
    The overall atmosphere is one of primal energy and ferocity, as if the very essence of the cobra's lifestyle has been distilled into musical form. The listener is transported to a realm where instinct reigns supreme, where every beat and stroke echoes the pulse of the wild.
    
    With its relentless energy and unyielding intensity, Crawling Cobra is a musical journey that demands to be experienced.

• Instrumentation +

  • Multi Percussion

    2 Bongos
    3 Toms (12”, 14”, 16”)
    1 Bass Drum (18”)
    1 Kick Drum
    1 Cymbal with Chains
    1 Stick Tray

• About the composer +

  • Originating from Tuscany, Italy, Jacopo takes being a percussionist to new heights. Combining strong, classical fundamentals with his own modern touch.
    
    Jacopo Pisapia composes his own music, creating a new style which can be defined as something between classical and contemporary music, including jazz and romantic inputs, from a percussionist perspective. This music is created to bring the listener in an emotional journey where the soul can float around memories and feelings. Fine-tuning his skills as a composer in The Netherlands, Jacopo already established a name for himself with noteworthy performances. Among his compositions we can find pieces for solo marimba, marimba and string trio, percussion duo, percussion duo and flute, solo vibraphone, violin and marimba and solo piano.

• Reviews +

  • Review (Percussive Notes, February 2025)
    
    Promoted as “a visceral musical experience that embodies the sinuous movements of a snake,” this 5½-minute solo makes good use of familiar multiple-percussion setups (anchored around bongos, toms, bass drum) while incorporating extended performance techniques, such as scraping a chain across the toms to mimic the movement of a snake across the surface.

    The primary rhythmic elements for this solo consist of sixteenth-note patterns, and 4:3 hand-to-hand overlaps. Starting with intermittent single-drum lines over continuous chain swirls, the intensity builds to a lengthy sixteenth-note based drum melody that is interjected with short, triplet-based bursts of rhythmic energy. Moving away from this “rhythmic tonic” of sorts, the middle section is rooted in a driving repeated line that is framed by sparse open-ended simple rhythmic gestures. The final section requires the player to perform thirty-second notes over pulsing eighth notes on the kick drum.

    Overall, this is an accessible piece once the percussionist learns the basic “flow” of the sixteenth-note patterns, as there is a lot of compositional recycling of ideas throughout. Additionally, it can serve as an introduction to making musical choices on non-pitched instruments.

    —Joshua D. Smith

• Credits +

  • With support from Koda’s Cultural Funds
    Front Cover graphics and layout: Nicola Lee
    Photo: Lammert Aling
    Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
    Copyright © Edition SVITZER
    www.editionsvitzer.com

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