Michael Fiday

Electric Guitar was composed for New York-based percussion ensemble Mantra Percussion, who long ago planted the idea in my mind to compose a piece wherein the members of the group played electric guitars as percussion instruments. The ensemble for Electric Guitar is divided up into two symmetrical trios consisting of electric guitars and basses, each with its own tuning, laid flat and struck with a variety of implements such as chopsticks, dowel sticks and espresso spoons (played in a manner similar to that of a hammered dulcimer), and instruments commonly associated with a traditional drum-set that are dispersed amongst the ensemble. Electric Guitar was made possible by a grant from the Fromm Music Foundation.

Score and audio samples forthcoming