Babylon

Voices of Babylon- Ryan Garner (2016) Voices of Babylon is a three movement piece for multi percussion. Instrumentation includes: vibraphone, triangle, high and low finger cymbals, suspended cymbal, snare drum, Chinese tom, and tambourine. The piece attempts to capture the feelings before, during, and after the fall of Babylon to the Persian Empire in 539 BCE. The Invasion by the Persians was swift and brutal, many scholars even believe the invasion was as short as just one night. The piece is broken up into three movements to capture the atmosphere of the people in each time period. The first movement takes place a year before the invasion and uses several metallic sounds including: Triangle, High Finger Cymbal (Can be substituted by a G# Crotale), Low Finger Cymbal (Can be substituted by an E Crotale), Vibraphone, and a suspended cymbal. This movement explores the sounds created when multiple metal surfaces are ringing off of and each other creating imbalances with the wavelengths. The second movement takes place during the year of the invasion in 539 BCE. This movement is scored for tambourine, a Chinese tom, and a snare drum. The tambourine and tom are symbolic of the Persian army advancing on the Babylonians (portrayed by the snare drum) as throughout the movement the snare drum is slowly being drowned out by these new timbres. The movement ends with the snare drum fading away to nothing as a march-like beat from the tambourine and tom overtake it. The third movement takes place after the invasion is over in the year 538 BCE. The movement starts with variations on the Dies Irae chant melody being played on the vibraphone. The movement concludes with a return to material in the first movement, suggesting that the influence on the Babylonian empire still remains even though the empire itself is gone.

• published: 04 May 2016
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