more about Kala:

bio

projects

non-English materials

personal

FAQ

Broadloom



open instrumentation: at least six pitched instruments and/or singers  •  open duration: at least several minutes (no upper limit)  •  2015.

Broadloom was premiered on 12 March 2016 (University of Nebraska-Kearney New Music Festival; Anthony Donofrio, Director), then premiered on the west coast on 27 April 2017 (Mills College Contemporary Performance Ensemble; Steed Cowart, Director).

Other upcoming performances will be in MO, NE, NJ, and Leeds, England. Contact me for a free perusal PDF.

Broadloom is an organic/free texture-building piece. Once performers choose a role to perform and read the simple instructions, they can focus on listening to one another rather than looking at a printed page. (The six types of phrases are partly or fully notated but entirely free in their start points and duration, and therefore free in terms of performers' interactions with one another.)

For pro musicians, it's a rich, flexible meditation; for developing musicians, it's an excellent piece for building listening skills, rhythmic/pulse solidity, and ensemble cohesion.

Broadloom will work equally well with a single-timbre group (clarinet choir, vocal ensemble, etc.) or with any mixed set of six or more acoustic pitched instruments or voices. Acoustic instruments work best, including physical instruments that play through an amp, such as electric guitar (electronic/software instruments work less well, except where their physical control of dynamics and their attacks can blend well with acoustic instruments). Non-western instruments are welcome if they can play the western pitches B, C#, D and A, in any octave — or a subset of those pitches (see the score for the options). Amplification and reverb for the group overall is welcome if desired, but not required.