Parental Discretion

Parental Discretion is a reworking of my piece, 2ba4, which is a work for tuba and electronics written in a style I have dubbed “Brassplotation.” Imagine it as the soundtrack to an R. Crumb animation where a tuba does horrible, horrible things. Unlike most of my work, this one lends itself handily to being reworked for various low instruments, in this case the bass clarinet, which combines the low-down of a bass guitar with the wonkiness of a clavinova. There are also explicit references to the sub-genre of music known as trip-hop, a style that flourished in the late 1990s. Trip hop itself often makes references to the conspicuously vintage sounds of tremolo guitar (think spy movies) and lo-fi scratchy vinyl sounds. Thematically, the motives are based primarily on funk riffs derived from the blues scale. The first three notes of the C minor blues scale (C Eb F) also provided the architectural structure for the piece in that the work centers first around C, then Eb, then F before returning to C. Elements of the performer’s part are echoed by boomboxes placed behind the audience.

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The work is suitable for listeners of all ages.