Rrrrrrr... 6 Schlagzeugduos (1981)
(for percussion duo)

As I started to think about the Radio Phantasy, I imagined d’Alembert engaged in the tedious work on his Encyclopaedia, often nodding off over the pages of his manuscript, all of whose entries began with the letter "R" . In his half-sleep, the precise meanings of the definitions would overlap, very unscientifically, with the possibility of combining them by instinctive association, or in a way that blurs their sense.

I only had to modify this idea just a little for my knowledge – in Diderot’s sense – to be illuminatingly expanded, and for the project to be made feasible. Thus I changed the starting point from a broadly conceived encyclopaedia to a music dictionary: I got hold of a paperback example, and immediately found myself in the midst of infinitely multiplying domains, ranging from compelling semantics to the farthest reaches of musicological poesy.

The work Rrrrrrr… consists of 41 independent pieces of music, all beginning with the letter "R". Each segment (I organ; II choir and piano; III percussion duo; IV winds, double basses and percussion; V solo voice; VI jazz trio) is published in a separate volume. A performance of the pieces results in the Radio Phantasy Rrrrrrr…

1        railroad drama: a railway accident, derived from the railroad song.

2        ranz des vaches: (Fr.: Swiss cowherd’s song): a melodious, narrative round dance common in the romanesque
Alpine areas (Ger.: Kuhreigen).

3        rigaudon: early French folk and social dance; a line and couple dance in a lively ¾, /4- or alla breve metre which arose in the 17th century from the folk dances of Provence and Langue d’oc, and is predominantly governed by crotchets and quavers, usually beginning with a crotchet upbeat. As a courtly dance the rigaudon found its way in the 17th/18th century into the ballet, opera and instrumental suite, where it was frequently inserted between the sarabande and gigue. It is closely related to the bourrée and gavotte.

4        rim shot: a sharp drumstroke, resembling the report of a firearm, produced when the skin and rim are struck                    simultaneously with the drumstick.

5        ruff (or ruffle): a triple stroke on the side drum, somewhat in the manner of a short roll.

6        Rutscher (Ger.: slider): early German folk dance; gallop.

M. K.