Score

Beginning with the lowest possible slide position, the trombones play different partials on this position, to create different just intonation chords. With each repetition, they increase the complexity of the resulting chord, dispersing into harmonic zones far from where they began. Occasionally, when they can no longer move any further, they change the slide position but repeat the same pitch. This provides them with a new series of partials to play.

Through it all, the strings sustain pitches that echo the trombones’ pitches. Each string player is matched up with a trombonist, seated directly in front of him or her, and that string player’s bow pressure and bow position are determined by how far away harmonically the trombonist’s pitch is from the rest of the trombone quartet.

Premiered in June 2013 for the Transient Festival, by the Guidonian Hand Trombone Quartet + Ensemble Indexical.