Glass Jungle for Solo Percussion and Percussion Quartet - 6-8 Min.; 8 glass bottles, glass chimes, bamboo chimes, rain stick, frogs (wood blocks with ridges), Tam-Tam, Kick Drum, Tom-Toms, Snare, Timbales, Bongos, Tria., cymbals, 4 timpani, Vibraslap, WBl., Agogo, Congas, TBl., Shekere, Shaker, Bass Drum, etc. advanced

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Glass Jungle is the first piece I wrote after moving to the upper-upper west side of Manhattan. The title refers to the plethora of skyscrapers and apartment buildings combined with the frenzy of New York City life. The majority was composed while staring out the window and listening to the sounds that my new neighborhood had to offer. Being in a highly Dominican area, I tried to catch the “spirit of the street” with many grooves from car stereos passing by to distant apartment stereos. Several instances reflect this, where the “feel” changes abruptly through the use of himiola and metric modulation. Besides standard percussion instruments, Glass Jungle calls for eight glass bottles (all with separate pitches, blown to create a melody), glass chimes, bamboo chimes, rain stick, and frogs (wood blocks with ridges). Being the first piece I’ve written without a single instrument in front of me proved to be the biggest challenge of the composition process. Glass Jungle was commissioned by Lonny Benoit for the 2008 PAS Southwest Louisiana Day of Percussion.