PYRO

for solo marimba

Written: 2021
Duration: ca. 5'
Instrumentation: solo five-octave marimba (four mallets)
Commissioned by Micheal Barnes
World Premiere: Recital, Michael Barnes, marimba, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, April 4, 2024.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music

Online Perusal Score | Sheet Music Available, June 2024

PROGRAM NOTES

The word ‘pyro' has a few different meanings. It can denote fire, heat, or temperature, but the meaning that most inspired this piece comes from the word 'pyromaniac', which is used to describe someone who has the compulsion to set things on fire. In particular, I was most influenced by a surreal, somewhat grotesque artwork by David Lynch called Boy Lights Fire (2010), in which a boy holds a book of matches in his left hand and a lit match in his right hand while someone (perhaps his mother) appears in the distance, arms stretched out, seemingly in shock. I imagined the boy lighting their house on fire and the house gradually burning to the ground. Pyro was commissioned by Michael Barnes.