This work was commissioned by Strike Percussion with support from Creative
New Zealand. Released on Strike Percussion Ensemble’s CD New
Zealand Percussion Music.
In Iron Tongues the instruments act as animate characters, “playing
off” each other in circling games of showy display. They engage
in an unravelling dialogue of firey competition, a race to reach the
end first, to be the biggest, the loudest, the most virtousic. But as
an ensemble they also surrender to moments of synchronicity and harmony.
The instruments are defined into 3 groups by their inherent characteristics
– marimba for wood, brake drums for metal and skins are tom-toms.
The tom-toms are struck with bound bamboo sticks to produce a distinctive
quality of sound.