Tsubaki Dance

Item details

• Description +

  • Duration: 9 min.
    
    Preface (extract)
    ...I was very grateful for the opportunity to compose Tsubaki Dance for the marimba/drum set duo project of Kana Omori and Wes Crawford. I felt particularly suited to this task, because I began my musical life as a rock drummer. I later fell in love with the marimba, and have always approached it from a drummer’s perspective when I compose...

• Instrumentation +

  • Marimba and Drumset

• About the composer +

  • Rich O’Meara is most known for his compositions for marimba that are performed and recorded throughout the world. His solo album, Red Chard, presents the premiere of Tsubaki Dance for marimba and drumset. It also features works for solo marimba, chamber percussion, electronic music, and improvisation. His work has been featured on the NPR program “New Sounds” and the PBS documentary “The Music Instinct, Science and Song”. He presented a master class and concert of his works at the Eighth International Festival of Percussion in Argentina and has received four ASCAP Plus awards. 
    
    As a founding member of Silent Orchestra, he began a collaboration with Carlos Garza to develop and perform new scores for classic silent films. They have appeared at museums, theaters, and film festivals throughout the U.S., as well as at PASIC in 2001. Their scores for the iconic films Nosferatu (1922) and Salome (1923) are available on DVD. 
    
    Working with playwright/actor David Kessler, he created and performed music for two live multi-media theater productions during the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, DC. 
    
    O’Meara has performed with Kwo’m Percussion, Sandbox Percussion, One Earth Percussion Theatre, the Contemporary Music Forum, the National Symphony Orchestra, and as a soloist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and The Women Composer’s Orchestra. Along with the members of So Percussion and his son, Kevin O’Meara, he has played with the Dan Deacon Ensemble and appears on Deacon's albums Bromst, America, and his soundtrack for Well Groomed. He is an active member of the experimental music scene, and has produced three albums with Colla Parte, a quartet that creates music in the moment. 
    
    Rich and his wife, Patsy, currently live in Bethel, Connecticut with their extended family and four dogs. 
    
    https://richomeara.bandcamp.com
    https://www.facebook.com/richomeara
    http://youtube.com/madeinmarimba

• Reviews +
  • Review (Percussive Notes, October 2021)

     

    “Tsubaki Dance” for marimba and drum set duet was composed for Kana Omori and Wes Crawford. The title refers to a red or pink flower found in Japan and elsewhere. Rich O’Meara sought to write this duet as if for one large instrument, and includes melodic and rhythmic playing from both instruments. Although clearly notated, there is room in the drum set part for improvisation.
    
    

    This challenging work is reminiscent of progressive rock music, and could be favorably compared with Ruud Wiener’s “Go Between,” which Bill Bruford recorded with the New Percussion Group of Amsterdam in the 1980s. There is a strong sense of groove throughout much of the piece, even as it ventures into 11/8 and 13/16 time signatures. “Tsubaki Dance” requires two virtuosic players, and I recommend it for graduate and professional performances.

     

    —Joseph Van Hassel
• Credits +

  • Front Cover graphics and layout: Ronni Kot Wenzell
    Photo: Rick Bowser
    Engraving: CPH Engraving
    Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
    Copyright © Edition SVITZER
    www.editionsvitzer.com

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