Wally Gunn | Little Things

Little Things
2015 (22:00)
Text by Wally Gunn
Percussion duo
Commissioned by Steady State

Video: Moving from Little Things (excerpt 06:00) by Wally Gunn, performed by Steady State. An Evan Chapman film.

Video: Little Things (full length 25:00) by Wally Gunn, performed by Steady State. An Evan Chapman film.

Little Things (22:00)
1. Frequently Asked Questions (03:00)
2. Stop It (03:30)
3. Kid (04:00)
4. Moving (04:30)
5. Thank You For Calling (07:00)

Program Note
The piece catches snapshots of a relationship between two brothers from childhood through adulthood—fragmented memories and scenes—scored for a percussion duo in artfully staged multi-percussion setups over 5 short movements. The piece also features impressionistic, abstract spoken word poetry performed by the players, sourced from found and devised text, appended and edited by the composer. Music and text work together to create vignettes that are by turns intriguing, humorous, and deeply moving. The evolving relationship depicted in the piece echoes that of the two commissioning percussionist brothers, Eric Shuster and Tim Shuster of Steady State.
– WG, 2016

Instrumentation

Frequently Asked Questions
Player 1
1 x triangle
1 x hard yarn or rubber mallet
Player 2
1 x triangle
1 x hard yarn or rubber mallet

Stop It
Player 1
1 x cencerro cowbell, high (minor 3rd higher)
1 x hard rubber mallet with rattan handle
Player 2
1 x cencerro cowbell, low (minor 3rd lower)
1 x hard rubber mallet with rattan handle

Kid
Player 1
1 x crotale, E (higher than Setup 2)
1 x temple bowl, B (higher than Setup 2)
1 x nipple gong, A (higher than Setup 2)
1 x highest tom tuned to B
1 x second lowest tom tuned to G#
Player 2
1 x crotale, C# (lower than Setup 1)
1 x temple bowl, G# (lower than Setup 1)
1 x nipple gong, F# (lower than Setup 1)
1 x second highest tom tuned to A
1 x lowest tom tuned to F#
Tunings: Nipple gong and temple bowl tunings are ideals. Together, the four instruments should form a stepwise scale in the same octave, F#, G#, A, B. Likewise, tunings of 4 toms should form a stepwise scale in the same octave, F#, G#, A, B. Mallets: 1 pair soft felt/timpani mallets, tom and gong played with felt, temple bowl and crotale played with shoulder of mallet (possibly wrapped in moleskin)

Moving
Player 1
1 x woodblock
1 x snare drum, snares off, with these objects sitting on top skin:
1 x 3 inch triangle
1 x crotale (sitting with collar-side down, so its rings a little)
1 or 2 x finger cymbals, curved side down
1 x elephant bell, or 1 x tin can, or 1 x short metal pipe, any of these lying on its side
rattan mallets, using rattan end to play
Player 2
1 x woodblock
1 x snare drum, snares off, with these objects sitting on top skin:
1 x 3 inch triangle
1 x crotale (sitting with collar-side down, so its rings a little)
1 or 2 x finger cymbals, curved side down
1 x elephant bell, or 1 x tin can, or 1 x short metal pipe, any of these lying on its side
rattan mallets, using rattan end to play

Thank You For Calling
Player 1
Vibraphone
Player 2
Marimba (5 octaves)

Steady State
Eric Shuster
Tim Shuster

Thanks For Your Comment