DECK PARK TUNNEL
for percussion ensemble
Publisher: C. Alan Publications (2020)
Composed: 2019
Duration: 4’20”
Difficulty: Medium
Instrumentation (8 players): bells, chimes, vibraphone, 4.3-octave marimba (shared), timpani (4), snare drum, hi-hat, concert toms (4), triangle, shaker, shekere, brake drum
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Deck Park Tunnel is a groove-based percussion ensemble inspired by a series of 19 freeway underpasses set in downtown Phoenix, AZ that serve as the foundation for a large, grassy and treelined, 30-acre park. Exploiting similar contrasts to this creative compromise that facilitates the passage of approximately 250,000 cars each day while also providing venue for family picnics, outdoor concerts, and farmer’s markets, “Deck Park Tunnel” is scored for a balanced ensemble (four players on keyboard percussion instruments and four players on timpani, drums, and non-pitched percussion), utilizes passages both in the major and minor modes, and shifts frequently between a 3/4 and 6/8 time signature (the same measure value, but with a clearly different feel). A work with driving energy throughout, but one that also captures the spirt of recreation and play, “Deck Park Tunnel” is an engaging, creative, and pedagogical work that is ideal for intermediate percussion ensembles.

Deck Park Tunnel is reminiscent of winter drumline music with its melodic tom part, ostinato mallet parts interspersed with fast scalar passages, and ubiquitous groovy feel. – Joseph Van Hassel
Printed by permission of the Percussive Arts Society, inc.