"Synecdoche No. 1" for Solo Marimba

https://joshuahaugen.com/ Noah Mallet – Marimba To put it abstractly, a synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole, or vice versa. Compositionally, I found this could be adopted into a musical structure, where a small part or element of the piece represents some aspect of the larger piece. The work is one of my most abstract in my compositional career, jumping between multiple musical textures and sonic worlds – from scattered angular lines to floating rhythms with highly chromatic harmony to dance-like sections, among others. The most ascertainable way to follow the work is through the form, which follows that of a Shakespearian Sonnet (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG where each letter represents a different musical texture). For the technically inclined: the “smaller aspect” of the work is a hexachord (Bb C Db F# A B) which is turned into two non-octave musical scales spanning the entire length of the marimba (one based on Bb and one based on B). Not repeating at the octave and offering a unique and constantly morphing sonic palette, these scales define the different musical textures – the tonic for the scale shifting between each of the contrasting sections.