Dances From a Forbidden Land

Dances From a Forbidden Land is a percussion ensemble piece debuted by the NMSU percussion studio in the fall of 2022. This piece is meant to depict a programmatic element of exploring and interacting with a forbidden land. Maybe a jungle, mountain, or other worldly terrain. There are many unique instruments used to convey this feeling, such as a lion's roar, bird calls, and a Mayan death whistle. This piece explores many different textures from aggressive, to sensitive, to minimalist. The work also explores the 20th century composition technique of aleatoric time signatures where the performers create an ambient texture while relying on cues, as opposed to feeling a unified pulse. This percussion ensemble provides a mix of challenging parts, minimalist like patterns, and simple full ensemble impacts. All with a contemporary style. An advanced high school group, or young collegiate percussion ensemble would find this piece engaging, while also challenging their musical maturity.