Hit and Miss
Jon Fielder
About this work:
This piece was inspired by hit and miss engines from the early 20th century. In Novemeber of 2008 my dad began collecting these engines and restoring them to run as they did when they were still used. I became very interested in them, and would often listen to many of them run at one time. What was interesting to me was that the engines would not backfire regularly, so when a number of them ran simultaneously I would hear each of them backfire randomly. In this piece I try to capture that idea of being very mechanical, but also very irregular. There are also point where the music will stop and then begin suddenly, and be reminiscent of the earlier sections. These represent the engines shutting off and restarting, as is necessary when dealing these temperamental machines.
Year composed: 2009
Duration: 00:06:30
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 6-9 players
Instrumentation: 7 Trumpet
Instrumentation notes: Trumpet 1 is a C trumpet and is played by one player
Trumpets 2-4 are Bb trumpets and each part is doubled