Paula Matthusen · Composer

Gravity Studies was commissioned by the intrepid percussion trio Tigue, with the encouragement to embrace some of the potentially more theatrical aspects of percussion performance. For this reason, I became especially interested in playing with the ability to be precise among such a virtuosic group, by requesting them to drop different materials at different rates on to a series of pitched metal pipes.

The piece begins by establishing a very clear cue structure between a fixed media track which acts both as score and metronome for the duration of the piece. The percussive relationships established at the piece become gradually stretched as the distance between the performers and their instruments increase, and the types of materials they use change.

The piece references a number of highly staged works utilizing gravity – in particular George Brecht’s Drip Music and Michael Pisaro’s ricefall.

Gravity Studies was premiered at Roulette Intermedium in spring 2019 as part of their program This New Forest, made possible with funding from New Music USA.