(b. 1953)
John Luther Adams was born in Meridian Mississippi in 1953. His early years saw him a rock band drummer the skills of which served him well after commencing his formal studies at the California Institute of the Arts. His tutors, Leonard Stein and James Tenney were influential in his early career and after graduating in 1973 began working in the world of environmental protection. Adams moved to Alaska in 1978 and there his music reflected his powerful emotions of the natural world which led him to engage with the idea of sonic geography. Two works followed Songbirdsongs from 1974-1980 and Night Peace in 1977, both of which focused on elements of the fauna and flora of nature. In 2013 Adams composed Become Ocean, premiered by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra with Ludovic Morlot. This seminal work not only won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2014 but in addition, a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2015. John Luther Adams work spans multiple spans multiple genres from TV composition to children’s theatre and film work to electronic experimentation.
John Luther Adams Composition Timpani and Percussion Requirements
Always Very Soft
No Timpani + 3 percussion
1) six graduated metal instruments 2) six graduated glass instruments 3) six graduated membrane or wooden instruments
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....and bells remembered....
No Timpani + 5 percussion
1) 2 octaves crotales with bass bow, glockenspiel, vibraphone with bass bow, vibraphone, tubular bells
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Become Ocean
Timpani + 3 percussion + celeste
1) 5 octave marimba, vibraphone, 2 octaves crotales
2) 5 octave marimba, vibraphone
3) 3 orchestral bass drums, tam tam, suspended cymbal, timpani
Celeste
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Become River
No Timpani + 2 percussion
Glockenspiel, 2 octaves crotales, bass bow x 2, vibraphone, timpani, orchestral bass drum
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Coyote Builds North America
No Timpani + 4 percussion
1) conch shell with mouthpiece (low), 3 high tom toms, bongos, woodblock, 2 cowbells, castanets
2) conch shell with mouthpiece (high), 2 tom toms (medium and low), orchestral bass drum, guiro, maracas, claves, police whistle (high), orchestral bass drum
3) conch shell with mouthpiece (medium), 2 medium tom toms, log drum, 2 temple blocks, police whistle (low)
4) low tom tom, orchestral bass drum, whip, siren, siren whistle
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Dark Waves
No Timpani + 2 percussion + celeste
Glockenspiel, orchestral bass drum, suspended cymbal, 2 vibraphones, celeste
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Dark Wind
No Timpani + 2 percussion
Vibraphone, marimba
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Four Thousand Holes
No Timpani + 2 percussion
Vibraphone, glockenspiel
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In a Treeless Place, Only Snow
No Timpani + 2 percussion + celeste
Vibraphone x 2, celeste
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In the White Silence
No Timpani + 2 percussion + celeste
Vibraphone x 2, glockenspiel, celeste
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IIimaq
No Timpani + 4 percussion
Orchestral bass drum, 8 suspended cymbals (with mallets and brushes), bass bow, tam tam, 8 tom toms, 2 pedal bass drums
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Make Prayers to the Raven
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Glockenspiel, vibraphone, finger cymbals, tam tam
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Red Arc/Blue Veil
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Vibraphone, 2 octaves crotales
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Sauyatugvik: The Time of Drumming
Timpani (doubling 4 suspended cymbals) + 4 percussion
1) tom toms x 4, marimba, 2 octaves crotales, glockenspiel, tubular bells
2) orchestral bass drum, vibraphone, marimba, 2 tom toms
3) Tubular bells, xylophone, vibraphone, marimba
4) Tubular bells, medium high suspended cymbal, marimba, triangle, vibraphone, 2 octaves crotales
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Ten Thousand Birds
No Timpani + 2 percussion + celeste
Tambourine x 2, bull roarer x 2, temple blocks, bongos, timpani, glockenspiel x 2, vibraphone x 2, marimba x 2, celeste
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The Far Country of Sleep
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Large orchestral bass drum, tubular bells, very low tom tom
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The Farthest Place
No Timpani + 2 percussion
Vibraphone, marimba
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The Light That Fills the World
Timpani + 1 percussion + celeste
Vibraphone, marimba, 2 octaves crotales, celeste
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The Light Within
Timpani (doubling tam tam) + 1 percussion
Orchestral bass drum, 2 octaves crotales, vibraphone
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Three Drum Quartets from Earth and the Great Weather
No Timpani + 4 percussion
1) three high tom toms 2) three medium tom toms 3) orchestral bass drum, low tom tom 4) orchestral bass drum, very low tom tom
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A Northern Suite
No Timpani + 3 percussion + celeste
2 octave crotales, maracas, glass chimes, sea urchin chimes, tubular bells, large orchestral bass drum, very large orchestral bass drum, log drum, glockenspiel, sizzle cymbal, vibraphone, marimba
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