Dots & Dashes

Dots Dashes is an intense, drummy quartet for unpitched percussion in which composer Dustin Schulze aims to bridge the feel of tribal drum and dance music popular in West Africa with the complex, odd-meter construction found in popular Western classical music. This piece is written for Schulze's former teacher, Brad Arnold, who had previously written a snare solo for him in high school using his initials (DLS) in Morse code (.. ... ...) as the primary ostinato. Shulze includes that theme along with a 2+3+2+2+3 ostinato, both of which serve as the driving force behind the piece. Instrumentation consists of simply drums and various cymbals, though players rotate frequently between playing on drum heads and rims.