for Percussion Quartet - 2018, 15’

written for the Georgia State University Percussion Ensemble

This piece is my first piece for percussion quartet, a medium that’s intimidated me for a while. As a percussionist, I’ve spent a large chunk of my formative years learning how to play chamber music in percussion quartets. This medium is very close to my heart, and writing for it is quite daunting. How do you write a percussion quartet that’s engaging, accessible, and worthwhile? How do you manage timbre and instrumentation without going overboard and becoming cliché?

The word “olio,” in regard to this piece, is meant to refer to the materials used by each player. An olio is the collection of objects commonly known to Americans as the junk drawer. There are a hodgepodge of different sounds, and they’re all spaced around the room, and none of them are “proper” concert percussion instruments, but they’re all capable of creating something larger than itself.