Chasing Alse Young was written for percussionist, Matt Fallin.

Chasing Alse Young

Matt Fallin: percussion

Matt approached me about writing a piece that would use the drumset in a manner similar to battery percussion. As I like to do, I talked to Matt a bit about the sort of challenges he enjoys in performance. What I remember from that conversation is that he enjoys limb independence and “playing like an octopus”. Additionally, he played me a progressive rock tune from Rush titled Witch Hunt. It features a bit of drumming that was somewhat melodic and articulated a long phrase. Between those two ideas, I put together Chasing Alse Young. Alse Young was the first recorded instance of execution for witchcraft in the thirteen American colonies, so there is the Witch Hunt connection.

The piece flexes limb independence by creating polyrhythmic patterns that rotate unevenly across the drumset. These polyrhythmic patterns are made to spin out their permutations, rotating around until they arrive back at their start. The Witch Hunt theme is varied about and sounds closest to the original in the second half of the piece. This is after the drummer is given a bit of improvisational leeway.

The electronics of the work are often meant to blend seamlessly with the drumset. The idea is to extend the drumset itself into an imaginary sort of space. The eletronics also serve to glue things together a bit with some pitched material.

Chasing Alse Young was performed in 2018 at the SEAMUS conference at the University of Oregon. It was also played at the 2018 Root Signals Festival.