Composer’s Note:

Toyama was composed for a Percussion Festival in Toyama, Japan and premiered by the Percussion Ensembles of the Toho Gakuen College of Music & University of Michigan, Keiko Abe & Michael Udow, Directors. This work combines additive rhythmic compositional concepts utilized in the music of Frederick Rzewski’s Les Mouton de Panurge and cycling rhythmic concepts familiar in the music of Steve Reich. The work may be performed with handclapping or on instruments selected by the performers. Toyama is the basis of the opening section of Stepping on Stars a 45-minute work for a dancer and percussionist, which is documented on the 3.5 hour 37-year retrospective DVD of the duo, Equilibrium.