PLAY (2003) - Belinda Reynolds

for piano and percussion Commissioned by Teresa McCollough and Santa Clara University; Premiered April, 2003 - San Francisco, CA PLAY is a piano - marimba duo piece commissioned by pianist Teresa McCollough. In it, I decided to build on ideas that I use in teaching composition to children. One of the things I do with my students is have them make up music by creating words using the seven letters of the music alphabet. For PLAY, I decided to do this game myself. The structure is a double variation, with the basis of each variation coming from motives I created using the notes A - G. For instance, the first theme’s marimba part is built on the word “C_A_B_B_A_G_E”. Similarly, the piano’s chords in the second theme come from the words “B_E_D_” and “E_D_G_E”. From this material the variations evolve, with the ‘words’ dispersing into new statements of the original music. Knowing Teresa’s love of reading and playing games with her daughter, Emma, I felt this would be a fitting way to create