Tongue and Groove (2008-09)
for alto saxophone and marimba (six-mallet version)

Duration: 8'00"
Instrumentation: alto saxophone and five octave marimba (six-mallet version)
Commissioned by CASE Arts Group, Inc. and a Consortium of Performers

Upcoming First World Premiere: Recital, Jeremy Justeson, alto saxophone, Robert Paterson, marimba, March 15, 2009, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA, USA.
Publisher: Robert Paterson Music (ASCAP)

Audio Excerpt [MP3] | Score Excerpt [PDF] | Purchase Music | Purchase Recording (Four Mallet Version) | Purchase MIDI Practice Accompaniment Recording | Four-Mallet Version

Introduction to My Six-Mallet Technique | Basic Six Mallet Exercies

Program Notes

The title, Tongue and Groove, is borrowed from carpentry, and is a method of fitting similar objects together edge to edge. In this piece, it refers to tonguing, a technique used on wind instuments to enunciate different notes, to the groovy feel of the marimba part and to oral sex. It also refers to the rhythmic interaction between the instruments and to how the different lines precisely follow each other. Tongue and Groove is also available in a four mallet version, and both versions were commissioned by CASE Arts Group Inc. and a consortium of performers.

 

– Robert Paterson

 

 

Reviews and Quotes

 

"Robert Paterson’s Tongue and Groove pairs off alto sax against Paterson’s own creepy marimba in a ghoulish marionette’s dance that gradually warms..."

 

– New York Music Daily