for Marimba duo
Hatch wrote Time Zones while he was living for a short time near Sydney, Australia. Through his frequent real-time conversations via Skype with people back home in Canada, he became vividly aware of how people in different parts of the world are separated by time as well as space. While he was still experiencing morning in Australia, for instance, those he was speaking to in North America were getting ready for bed. Written in up to eight different parts with eight different tempi and/or downbeats, Time Zones gives each of the two players’ four mallets its own “time zone.” Performance of the work requires a drum-set player’s “limb independence,” but with the drummer’s independent use of arms and legs replaced by independence in the use of the mallets—a feat that Hatch describes as “not unlike trying to rub your tummy while tapping your head, but much more difficult.”
Performed by:
Greg Samek, marimba
Ryan Scott, marimba