Shotgun!

Shotgun was commissioned by Connor Bergman and Tristan Scott for the 2024 Baylor University New Music Concert. Program Note: Lately I’ve found myself drawn to transformations in various forms like physical, metaphorical, and symbolic. Shotgun! plays in this space. It’s a story of two people becoming something they aren’t or possibly even dramaticized versions of their once human selves. The Duo fight with each other and the 3rd party (represented by the Percussionist). Sometimes this fight is with time and space, others it’s in the tonality. While writing this piece I was heavily inspired by two pieces and two very distinct yet similar composers. I was attracted to Allen Vizzutti’s Cascades for its sound-nature. It was all over the place yet sometimes felt bound to its spot before erupting again in an instantaneous moment. I was also influenced by Jean Baptiste Arban’s 14 Characteristic Studies, specifically Number 1. I heard someone practicing this piece in a room in the McCrary Music School and instantly found the line that related it to my piece. This study is alluded to and even outright played several times throughout the piece, but it's what's going on around it and happening to it that’s important. Shotgun! is a flashy, fast, and exuberant 8 minute Trio that shows how humans are bound to react to different things and how this reaction can transform us. The Euphonium parts are demanding and require the full attention and character from the performers as well as an insistent out-pouring of energy. (While Choreography is not necessary the group that premiered it did choreography.) The Percussionist part requires full attention from the performer due to the nature of it trying to be the pulse of the performers. It requires thorough knowledge of time and tempo. Daniel Perzan (2024)