LifeCycles

by Mike Nevin

Medium-Advanced Concert Percussion

8-11 Players

Instrumentation: 

• Glockenspiel

• Crotales (2 octaves)

• 3 Vibraphones

• 2 Marimbas — (1) low A, (1) low F

• Bass guitar (or MalletStation, MalletKat, or synth)

• Drumset

• Drums* — bass drum, 2 congas, djembe, bongos

• Accessories* — 3 shakers, sleigh bells, cabasa, claves, vibraslap, triangle, mark tree, tambourine (mounted)

• Cymbals & gongs* — tam-tam, suspended cymbal

*All percussion parts optional

The seeds of Mike Nevin’s Lifecycles were sown with the 1998 Blue Knights Percussion Ensemble production “Circular Momentum,” and it went on to take new life years later in its current form. Its central groove in 7/4 has a cyclical, spinning quality while the changes between major and minor tonalities provide a musical metaphor for our life cycle as humans.

Written for six keyboard players, drumset, and bass guitar (or MalletStation, synthesizer, etc.), it also includes a conga part and two additional percussion parts for added groove and color. The parts are nuanced and clearly represented on the page, with a section in the middle left open for one or more players to improvise solos over.

This piece ships as a fully bound score. Individual parts come exclusively in PDF format.