Septet

Dwayne Rice's Septet is a conversation between seven percussionists, each with his own culturally unique setup. They begin with the same rhythmic material and, after the introduction, start to separate and differentiate, more like the culture their instrumentation represents. As the piece progresses, each performer struggles for dominance. They coalesce into larger and larger groups, until they are all saying the same thing, but fighting to be the loudest voice. At the geometric mean of the piece, the argument comes to a violent end, whereupon player 4 pulls them out of the chaos by starting a new groove. This new groove quickly transforms back into the original motive, going through the opening sections in reverse order, until the piece closes with them once again in agreement.