Immiscible Globules

2026 | Chamber Work

Percussion Quartet

Instrumentation

Percussion 1: Terracotta Flower Pots
Percussion 2: Crotales, Tom-Toms
Percussion 3: Vibraphone, Snare Drum
Percussion 4: Terracotta Flower Pots, Temple Blocks, Wood Blocks

Program Note

Other than being a pair of extremely fun words to say, “immiscible globules” refers to two substances that are incapable of being combined to create a homogenous mixture. Think, for example, of beads of oil suspended in water. When I first started composing this piece, I knew that I wanted flower pots to be a central feature of the work, but I struggled to figure out how I could make the sound of the flower pots blend in with the more familiar sounds of instruments such as crotales, vibraphone, and tom-toms. In thinking about this, I then considered what would happen if I didn’t attempt to make a totally homogenous mixture with the sounds I knew I wanted to use. What results is a piece that examines individuality and dissimilarity in a variety of different ways: timbrally, temporally, harmonically (as the flower pots aren’t perfectly tuned to the other instruments), and even spatially when the ensemble is divided in two in an exciting moment of argumentative call and response.

Duration