Cat and Mouse by Tom Nazziola

The title came after the piece was composed. Upon realizing that one of the mallet instruments is often “chasing” the other in a cannon-like manner, I decided to go with the animated title of Cat and Mouse. Besides the interplay between mallet instruments, I was also looking to incorporate a non-western percussion instrument (in this case the udu, which is of Nigerian origin) along with the standard mallet instruments of marimba and vibraphone. All three instruments have a strong role in communicating the pulse and phrasing of the piece, which alternates between 3/4 meter and 6/8 meter.

Instrumentation: