In and Out of the Game (2007, rev 2010) began life as part of the score for a collaboration with choreographer David Neumann called FeedForward. In 2010, I made a video for the piece using footage I shot on my trip down the Mississippi River the previous fall. I made this new version of the piece for the trombone quartet, Guidonian Hand. It is dedicated to Paul, whom I met in Cape Girardeau on 15 October 2009. You can read about our meeting here.
Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am,
Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary,
Looks down, is erect, bends an arm on an impalpable certain rest,
Looks with its sidecurved head curious what will come next,
Both in and out of the game, and watching and wondering at it.Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with linguists and contenders,
I have no mockings or arguments. I witness and wait.
Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass
The piece can be performed by trombone quartet or sextet. You can download the score for both versions here.
In and Out of the Game is October 17th in my ongoing project A Book of Days. A recording of the Guidonian Hand’s performance is available on Songs from the River Project, Volume 2.
If you would like to perform the piece, please click below, and I will provide you with the backing track and the optional video. I’ve set it to pay as you like, because it occurs to me that you might want to make a multitrack version at home in these pandemic days.
DETAILS
- Instrumentation: trombone
- Ensemble Size: 2-6
- Duration: <5 minutes
- Electronics: Fixed Audio
- Video: Yes
- Project(s): A Book of Days BRIM: The River Project
- Year: 2010