DDT
Item
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Score title
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DDT
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Composer
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Libby Larsen
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Program note
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Percussion
1. Vibraphone; Suspended Cymbal; Guiro; Temple Blocks (5)
2. Xylophone; Suspended Cymbal; High Triangle; Ship's Bell; Medium Woodblock
3. Marimba; Suspended Cymbal; Small Woodblock; Medium Triangle; Small Log Drum
4. Bass Marimba; Suspended Cymbal; Tambourine; Small Bell; Ratchet; Power Drill
DDT is inspired by Rachel Carson’s environmental manifesto, Silent Spring (1962). The book raises important questions about humankind's impact on nature. Carson asks us, a civilized nation of intelligent people, a question that is not only scientific but moral. “The question is whether any civilization can wage relentless war on life without destroying itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized.”
My original thought for this piece was to translate passages of Silent Spring into Morse code and essentially read the book aloud by way of the percussion instruments. I discovered that instead of reading the book, I would be spelling the book and this would take hours, if not days, to do. Instead, I translated eleven words into Morse code and composed a manifesto on Carson’s book: Air, H20, Bird, Insect, Wonder, AH, Human, Drill Baby Drill, STOP.
Libby Larsen