Elucidatrix

Elucidatrix was written in 2015 and premiered in 2016 with the San Diego State University Percussion Ensemble, Greg Cohen, director. Special thanks also goes to the University of Denver Percussion Ensemble, John Kinzie, director; Radford University Percussion Ensemble, Rob Sanderl, director; and the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Percussion Ensemble, Dan Smithiger, director. These performances have been an inspiration to finishing the published version that you have here. Bartok wrote some amazing moments in his Second Piano Concerto. Some of those moments are when the pianist plays duets with the timpanist and bass drummer! Don’t worry, those are included in my piece between the solo marimba and timpani and bass drum. Some of Bartok’s inspiring material from his uniquely designed concerto is directly quoted in Elucidatrix. This material, and other material that is not quoted, was used as a springboard for what blossoms anew throughout the piece. The basic harmonic structure of the work is much like bellows. Stacked 5ths begin the piece, and through grinding away (and passing through the tritone) those migrate to stacked 4ths, then major 3rds, and finally minor 3rds. From there it moves back out to stacked 5ths. I used this method throughout to propel the work into new spaces. The title is a portmanteau of the two words elucidate and matrix. ~M.C.