Crow Magnum
Theodore Wiprud
About this work:
Crow Magnum, for solo percussion with crows
For a concert devoted entirely to my music, sponsored by Greenwich House in New York in 2001, I wanted to include at least one touch of humor in a line-up of fairly serious pieces. I also wanted to represent my penchant for percussion music, without being able to present one of my percussion quartets. The obvious answer was Crow Magnum.
My brother, Brian Wiprud, an author, engineer and offbeat inventor, readily agreed to create the substrate for something unusual. I requested the inclusion of crows, a leitmotif in his constructions. Soon he presented me with a contraption involving five ornate Asian metal cans, fixed on their side on a base, with four life-size crows towering above on lamp goosenecks, each crow outfitted with blinking red eyes (independently addressable) and each can with a brilliant light that would flash on its own rhythm.
The instrument and its lights dictated the piece to me (although it is playable with a simple set of cans with neither crows nor lights). At the time I was working with The Rite of Spring in high school classrooms, so this piece became rather a parody. I imagined an unruly flock of young crows assembling, dancing to the moon, receiving their revered elder and listening to his tales of the old days, and a final, frenzied dance of flashing claws.
Version: solo percussion with crows
Year composed: 2001
Duration: 00:09:00
Ensemble type: Solo instrument, non-keyboard:Percussion (General)
Instrumentation: ,1 Percussion (General) soloist(s)
Instrumentation notes: Crow Call (Knight & Hale Magnum Crow Model 404, or similar), five Graduated Tin Cans (if available, use specially designed Crow Contraption*), Temple Blocks, Three Tom Toms, Bass Drum with foot pedal
Triangle, Medium Cowbell, Medium Tam Tam, Wood Wind Chime
* Crow Contraption includes separately operable lights in the eyes of each of four crows standing above the five tin cans, as well as independently flashing lights mounted within each can. Can lights are actuated with a foot switch. Score indicates when to operate lights. If Crow Contraption is unavailable, Crow Magnum may be performed with any sert of graduated tin cans, securely mounted, and without lights.