Four for Flexatones (2009)
Cody Jensen, Tim Berg, Zack Penckofer, Brandon Runyon, flexatones; Vincent Caliano, video
WAH (2014)
Tim Berg, Justin Peters, Mark Eichenberger wah wah tubes; Evan Chapman, audio & video
Can be played as a duet, trio, quartet or quintet.
Meinl Percussion makes two pitches; they are substantially larger with warm tones. The instruments shown in the video above are from Schlagwerk. They are much more toy-like than Meinl ones. You can easily find them in the US.
Here's another video of Tim and Justin playing it with the Meinl tubes.
The performers choose pitch combinations.
The Well Seasoned Iron Pan (2015)
Mark Eichenberger (9-inch lodge cast iron skillet), Loren Stata, audio & video
program note:
Due to improper care, my cast iron pan came to its demise with rust and scratches. The rust and scratches gave it a beautifully complex resonance. The chopstick play is partly inspired by numerous Chinese martial arts films I watched growing up where characters frequently fought over food using chopsticks. I remember the joy and surprise those silly scenes brought to my family—an insignificant material presented with such marvelous dexterity, violence, and humor! I also loved the idea of controlling something that controls something else, providing a delightful slackening of precision. The Well Seasoned Iron Pan was written in the spring of 2015 for my dear husband Mark Eichenberger.
Triangle Trio (2013, rev. 2016)
Tim Berg, triangle; Justin Peters, castanets; Mark Eichenberger, tambourine; Evan Chapman, audio & video
Program Note:
I spent my childhood in South Korea in the 1980s where expensive classical instruments were not available in public schools. Most of the music classes were conducted in a crowded classroom of 50-something children; the triangles, castanets, and tambourines comprised the rhythm section while melodions and recorders played tunes. In Triangle Trio, the second piece from my Portable Percussion Series. I wished to reconnect with the unrefined yet magical joy of noise-making I experienced in those boisterous classrooms. In the end, the inspiration survived only in the instrumentation. The music became exceedingly virtuosic to the point of irony, with the ensemble executing intricate composite rhythms and tempo changes. Triangle Trio unfolds in eleven cycles, with each cycle developing some characteristic element from the initial rhythmic motive. Five opening cycles are for the triangle alone. The rest of the instruments join in and they collectively build toward grooves, progressively becoming more continuous as the piece unfolds. After a written-out ritardando at the end of the piece, the opening rhythm is restated at 1/16th of the initial tempo, transformed beyond recognition.
Triangle Trio is dedicated to Tim Berg.
水 (Shuǐ, 2017)
Tim Berg, Mark Eichenberger & Justin Peters, percussionists; Evan Chapman, audio & video
I conceived Shui as a miniaturized version of an extended musical meditation. The circular shape of the instrument, the round bowl, and the long resonance are all conducive to meditative environment. As in any ensemble music--perhaps more palpable in this case--the performers are indispensable parts of the whole. Each performer has only two pitches so that all melodies have to be played collectively. There’s one moment they have to pass crotales to each other without killing the resonance, as if the sound is a living being.