Event Title
Morning on Tai Mountain
Performer / Ensemble
Sarah Roberts (Alto Saxophone), Timothy Feerst (Snare Drum)
Date of Publication
3-26-2021
Document Type
Composition
Abstract / Program Notes
Chinese history has for many years been a source of fascination. My study of Chinese culture and my love for mountain climbing both lent themselves to fascination of the tradition of climbing Tai Mountain, especially at the night before the Chinese New Year. As this occasion would be punctuated with many fireworks, this imagery lent itself well to the snare drum used as partner to the saxophone.
The composition is in four parts, each part with its own interior form:
The South Gate–––Folk Tale at the Temple–––Shrines and Spirits–––The Summit at Sunrise
The first part depicts the chaos of buying tickets and negotiating the crowds near the entrance. After beginning the journey, a group of people set off strings of firecrackers. The second part is the first part of the climb, where a rest stop at a temple leads to an old man telling a group of young children about his life as a child in rural Shandong province. The third part represents the steepest part of the climb, near a group of Buddhist shrines. In the late night on the mountain, these old shrines seem to have their own mystical story, and the wind howling through the canyons and shrines seem to be the voices of the dead. The fourth part is the arrival at the summit with its many souvenir stands? An old woman begs for money by singing a traditional Shandong embroidery song. Firecrackers are lit as the sun rises in the east.
Biography
Jeffrey Emge is Professor of Music at The University of Texas at Tyler, a position he has held since 2001. He has taught previously at Texas A&M-Commerce and in the public schools of Georgia and Tennessee. He holds the DMA in conducting from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Dr. Emge has appeared several times as performer and lecturer in universities in China, guest clinician numerous times in the southern United States and Canada, and conducted ensembles in five European countries. This composition was written for Timothy Feerst and Sarah Roberts in the summer of 2020.
Dr. Sarah Roberts is Assistant Professor of Saxophone and Jazz Studies at The University of Texas at Tyler. With an extremely diverse background in classical, jazz, and popular music, Dr. Roberts has performed with ensembles ranging from traditional saxophone quartets to new music groups, to rock bands, jazz groups and all points in between. In the East Texas area, Dr. Roberts frequently performs with her self-titled jazz quartet and the Essimar Trio, a group dedicated to promoting new music with unusual instrumentation. She is a Selmer Paris Performing Artist, and a Vandoren regional artist.
A native of Northern Virginia, Dr. Timothy Feerst is Instructor of Percussion at the University of Texas–Permian Basin, where he teaches Applied Lessons in Percussion, Percussion Ensemble, Percussion Methods, and coordinates the Falcon Drumline. He is also an Adjunct Instructor of Percussion at Odessa College, where he teaches Applied Percussion Lessons and Drumline. Prior to joining UTPB and OC, he served on the faculties at the University of Texas at Tyler, Trinity Valley Community College, the University of Utah, and at North Central Texas College. Dr. Feerst holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance from the University of North Texas.
Keywords
Chinese history & culture, snare drum, saxophone
Description
Duration: 10:00. Instrumentation: Alto Saxophone and Snare Drum. Date of Composition: 2020.
Morning on Tai Mountain
Chinese history has for many years been a source of fascination. My study of Chinese culture and my love for mountain climbing both lent themselves to fascination of the tradition of climbing Tai Mountain, especially at the night before the Chinese New Year. As this occasion would be punctuated with many fireworks, this imagery lent itself well to the snare drum used as partner to the saxophone.
The composition is in four parts, each part with its own interior form:
The South Gate–––Folk Tale at the Temple–––Shrines and Spirits–––The Summit at Sunrise
The first part depicts the chaos of buying tickets and negotiating the crowds near the entrance. After beginning the journey, a group of people set off strings of firecrackers. The second part is the first part of the climb, where a rest stop at a temple leads to an old man telling a group of young children about his life as a child in rural Shandong province. The third part represents the steepest part of the climb, near a group of Buddhist shrines. In the late night on the mountain, these old shrines seem to have their own mystical story, and the wind howling through the canyons and shrines seem to be the voices of the dead. The fourth part is the arrival at the summit with its many souvenir stands? An old woman begs for money by singing a traditional Shandong embroidery song. Firecrackers are lit as the sun rises in the east.