Update Title: F7B09A76-B959-44F5-B9F5-9DD5811429CC

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In order to appropriately describe the piece, the two nouns in the title of “Test of
Time” should both be plural. Not only are there all kinds of tests, but there are also a
variety of ways of perceiving time that are challenged in the course of the piece. How
long can rhythmic groove retain its momentum against interruptions and
juxtapositions? How do beats and syncopations change their syntax when shifted or
superimposed? How can micro-second subdivisions of a beat be re-configured into
unpredictable patterns that can still be felt as rhythmically tight? When musical
events are frozen and cut-and-pasted out of context, are they perceived as existing
independently in their own non-directional time-world? Can the four-phrase tune of
the solo tuba prologue pass the test of time and be recognized when it reappears ten
minutes later? Can the metrical implications of this tune still be appreciated when it
is played by the brass in a free-sounding rhythm superimposed over a driving 9/16
torrent in the rest of the ensemble? When — at the end of the piece (spoiler alert!) —
the tune is played by solo flute over a tapestry of bells, will the listener recognize on
some intuitive level that the notes of each phrase are played backwards although the
ordering of the phrases is forward?
I have for a long time considered the one-on-a-part (two violins) chamber sinfonietta
to be nature's perfect musical ensemble. No other ensemble could provide at the
same time the timbral variety and turn-on-a-dime agility needed to execute a piece
like “Test of Time.” I've included tuba and alto saxophone, instruments too often
neglected in this medium. I have also avoided using standard percussion
instruments, replacing bass drum and tom-toms with log drums, the surdo (Brazilian
carnival drum), and the cajon (Afro-Peruvian wood box drum), and writing for
almglocken (tuned cowbells) and singing bowls in place of marimba and vibraphone.
From the beginning of the tuba prologue to the final wa-wa decay of the spring drum
around fifteen minutes will have expired in the outside world. I hope that those of us
inside “Test of Time” will have experienced a universe of time dimensions totally
apart from that.
Test of Time was composed for the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, and
premiered December 3, 20009.

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