Let's Roll!
Bruce J. Taub
About this work:
Let's Roll! for percussion ensemble was written in 2002 and is dedicated to Larry Snider and The University of Akron Percussion Sudio. I decided to write this new piece after hearing the excellent performances of my other work for percussion ensemble, Lady Mondegreen Bangs the Can! (commissioned by Raymond Des Roches and the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players) at the 2nd Annual American New Arts Festival and the 36th National Conference of the Society of Composers, Inc. at the University of Akron earlier that year. When I met Larry Snider in Akron I discovered that he had performed another percussion piece of mine written in 1975 when he was a graduate student at the University of Illinois, Urbana.
Although not specifically programmatic, Let's Roll! was inspired by the events of 9/11. "Are you guys ready? Let's roll!" are believed to be the last words of Todd Beamer on board the fourth plane to go down in the terrorist attacks, United Airlines Flight 93 (bound from Newark to San Francisco) which crashed in Stoneycreek, Pennsylvania. Todd Beamer and others on the flight are credited with foiling the hijackers bent on crashing the Boeing 757 into what may have been a second target in Washington, D.C. The "Let's roll!" command was made over the plane's in-flight telephone after having descrbed the situation to a GTE (Verizon) supervisor for about 13 minutes before the plane crashed.
Published by the Association for the Promotion of New Music.
Year composed: 2002
Duration: 00:13:30
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Percussion Ensembles
Instrumentation: 4 Percussion (General)
Instrumentation notes: 4 or more players