Song of Queztecoatl, by Lou Harrison

Performed by Third Coast Percussion
David Skidmore, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, Owen Clayton Condon
www.vicfirth.co...
ABOUT THE PIECE:
Lou Harrison became a percussion ensemble pioneer partly by necessity -- he could make money writing for modern dance companies and use of percussion overcame problems of lack of space and shortage of money -- and partly by his own predilection. He had become enamored of the many sounds from non-Western musical traditions that could be heard in San Francisco in the 1940s, and collected non-Western musical instruments, including percussion, which he supplemented by objects found in junk yards (e.g. brake drums and wash tubs) that proved to have their own interesting musical qualities.
Harrison had a strong interest in the history and cultures of Mexico. Harrison came to own a full-color reproduction of materials from Mexican codices, which are pre-Columbian and pre-Colonial Aztec books. Harrison found the color reproductions fascinating, and decided to write music concerning the life of Quetzalcoatl, the "feathered serpent" hero-god depicted in some of the pages in his book. Although there was no film project involved here, Harrison imagined the music he wrote might be used for a film capturing images from the Mexican codices.
The ensemble for Song of Quetzalcoatl is a collection of drums, Mexican instruments, and metallophones, including some of his "junk" instruments and Chinese instruments. The piece calls for bells, wood blocks, dragon's mouths, two sistrums, cowbells, suspended or muted brake-drums, wooden rattle, snare drum, guiro (a Mexican rasp), glass wind chimes, triangle, gongs, tam-tam, tom-toms, and a low bass drum.
The piece is approximately six minutes long and begins with a rhythmic pattern that recurs throughout the piece. The music has the quality of a procession or ritual, particularly in the first portions of the composition. The ending, which is hushed, has an awestruck, magical quality.
Description by Joseph Stevenson - Edited by Third Coast Percussion
ABOUT THE COMPOSER:
Lou Harrison was one of the great composers of the twentieth century--a pioneer in the use of alternate tunings, world music influences, and new instruments. Born in 1917 in Portland Oregon, he spent much of his youth moving around Northern California before settling in San Francisco. There he studied with the modernist pioneer of American Music, Henry Cowell, and, while still in his twenties, composed extensively for dance and percussion. He befriended another of Cowell's students, John Cage, and the two of them established the first concert series devoted to new music for percussion. They composed extensively for these concerts, including their still popular collaboration Double Music. In 1942, Harrison moved to Los Angeles to study with the famous Arnold Schoenberg at UCLA. Steeped in the atonal avant garde of Schoenberg's school, he moved to New York the following year, where he made a name for himself not only as a composer, but also as a critic under the tutelage of composer/writer Virgil Thomson. Harrison also worked at editing the scores of American composer Charles Ives and conducted the first performance of Ives's Third Symphony (which won Ives the Pulitzer Prize). Harrison also published a study of the music of atonal composer Carl Ruggles, and the influence of Ruggles and Schoenberg comes through in works such as Harrison's Symphony on G and his opera Rapunzel. However, the stress and noise of New York led to a nervous breakdown in 1947. To help his friend recover, Cage recommended him to Black Mountain College in rural North Carolina, where the quiet and idyllic setting proved conducive to studies in Harrison's new interests, Asian music and tuning.
FULL BIO HERE:
www.vicfirth.co...

[@ACDCBoy62]

What a haunting piece! And very well executed!

[@udomatthiasdrums5322]

love it!!

[@ThatWasLoud]

groovy

[@LiamFlahertyCounterpoint]

I like how the dude who posts awesome Drum corps vids comments on here :P

[@kenshorley]

Great performance! Does anyone know what instrument the player (second from the left) used in place of "muted brakedrums". I see the 5 brake drums (used when the score asks for "suspended brakedrums", but the other set of instruments (with a higher pitched sound) is hidden from view. Thanks...

[@dreyescope6926]

Wondering that myself. They sound like brass artillery shells.

[@johannesbowman2194]

They are most likely small steel or copper pipes

[@martinespinomusic]

The correct spelling is QUETZALCOATL.

[@sensiur]

is it a gamelan?

[@felichaengland5689]

Ikkloooiioo

[@lutherong2466]

No

[@lutherong2466]

Quetecoatel is based on Aztec or Mayan music

[@jamesrivas6394]

These guys are rejects from the "Blue Man Group"and they're really mad about being let go,so they wrote this song to appease the devil and there hoping that the stage collapses on BMG, while they're performing.Excellent musicians.

[@vicmanlinped9633]

Si no ay instrumentos de musica azteca antigua no cuenta como musica a quetzalcoatl

[@GermanSnipe14]

*Quetzalcoatl

[@VicFirthCompany]

There are are a few different ways of spelling it but Queztecoatl is actually how it's printed on the score for this piece! :)

[@shin-i-chikozima]

mediocre ！

[@hangon5273]

good