Early in the semester, we as a class examined a piece by deceased composer James Tenney entitled, “Having Never Written a Note for Percussion.” Professor Twombly wrote out the entire score in class for us, which can be seen above.
He then demonstrated the performing of it with the use of a single gong and two mallets, playing a version of it which lasted six minutes. As can be seen by the notation, the piece calls for a gradual crescendo over the course of an extended period of time, coming to the loudest possible volume somewhere in the middle and then followed by a gradual decrescendo.
Noted avant-garde percussionist William Winant, who adapted the piece to be played by himself and the members of the experimental rock band Sonic Youth for their album Goodbye Twentieth Century, describes some of Tenney’s thought behind these works: “[Tenney] had all these compositions for solo instruments that were musical analogs of Zen koans, musical questions to ponder that would bring enlightenment.”
Karl Konz will be performing this evening’s version of James Tenney's “Having Never Written a Note for Percussion.”
Isaac Rotto
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