related works
Miniatures : for bass clarinet / Initiated and edited by Fie Schouten
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Clarinet
Scoring:
cl-b
Believer : for baritone saxophone with multimedia / JacobTV - Jacob Ter Veldhuis
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Saxophone with multimedia
Scoring:
sax-b soundtrack
Take a Wild Guess : for saxophone quartet with multimedia / JacobTV - Jacob Ter Veldhuis
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Saxophone with multimedia
Scoring:
sax-s sax-a sax-t sax-b (db dr ad lib.)
No Go Area : for bariton saxophone and soundtrack / Chiel Meijering
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Saxophone with multimedia
Scoring:
sax-b soundtrack
composition
Shruut : for saxophone quartet and shruti box / Jorrit Dijkstra
Other authors:
Dijkstra, Jorrit
(Composer)
Description:
Shruut was originally written for the Amstel Quartet. The piece was inspired by the mood and the music of some of Indian filmmaker and composer Sayajit Ray's works. I used a melodic fragment out of one of Ray's film compositions as an inspiration for the main melody of Shruut.
The piece uses an electronic shruti box, an Indian style drone generator. The acoustic shruti box (or even a Tampura), played by a separate musician can be used as well. However, I originally intended this piece as "electro-acoustic", and the theatrical element of turning on and off this strange colorful box is part of the performance of the piece. The box should be placed in the middle, right in front of the musicians.
The introduction (the long tones before A) is a meditative "Alap", without a tempo. The intro is very free and rubato, and every note can be bent, trilled, fluttertongued or played as an overtone as desired. The "available pitches" can be played in any order. Playing with difference tones by bending the pitches is highly encouraged, but should be used in moderation.
In a few places notes need to be overblown. These overblown or multiphonic notes are notated in diamond shapes, indicating the extra overtone that will sound on top of the low pitch if overblown correctly. The sound can be slightly rough, in a "free jazz" manner.