Wally Gunn | Double Or Nothing

Double Or Nothing
2012 (09:00)
Percussion quartet

Video: Double Or Nothing by Wally Gunn, performed by Chris Demetriou, Chris Gunnell, Abby Fisher, Eric Shuster

Instrumentation and Performance Note
Double Or Nothing is for 4 performers, each with 3 tin cans, open at one end. The cans should fit easily in the hand. A Campbell’s Soup can is a good example. All cans marked #1 and #2 sound identical, or at lest very similar, and are the lowest pitch available. Cans marked #3 are all higher in pitch than #1 or #2, and are a variety of different pitches; each performer’s #3 different to the others’ #3. Percussion 1 has the highest pitched #3 can, Percussion 3 next highest, Percussion 2 next highest, and Percussion 4 has the lowest pitched #3 can. The performers sit or stand 4 abreast at a table with a hard top that provides an interesting sound for the tins to scrape, slam and ring against. Individual boards for each player may prove useful. At the beginning of the piece, the cans are placed in starting position, where they occupy 3 out of 4 corners of a square or rectanglar playing space in front of the perfomer. During the piece, the cans are moved and / or struck by the performer within the playing space. The opening gesture uses two hands to move the cans around the playing space in a figure-8 formation, similar to how batons are juggled in the air. The staves consist of three lines. At first, each line represents one can. Later, the bottom line refers to the can in the left hand, the top line refers to the can in the right hand, and the middle line refers to both cans being somehow struck against each other.

First performed by
Chris Dmetriou
Chris Gunnell
Abby Fisher
Eric Shuster

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