Composer’s Note:

Writing for percussion, and in particular two instruments of the same tone color, challenged and gave me the opportunity to give more attention to rhythm and its treatment than in any of my previous works. For the first movement, I wanted to treat rhythm as block hemiola juxtapositions, in a rugged manner with an unrelenting pulse that is always felt, no matter if it is in the foreground or background. The second movement utilizes syncopation expressed through popping and playful melodic lines, followed by an arpeggiated texture section singing out slightly more impassioned lines. For the third movement, I felt the need for abstraction and silence, using brief gestures that elude to music that could be, but is not.

Hold on a minute was written for Chris Froh and Mayumi Hama as part of the inaugural Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and the title came from the shock of current political events, in particular the horrible and unacceptable tragedy in Charlottesville (among many others these days). One could say that the shock of open and out Neo-Nazis on the streets of America is reflected by the abstract third movement as it stands in contrast to the rest of the piece. How could we allow this to happen?