Five Stones
ISMN : 979-0-2325-7849-1
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Five Stones is a game usually played on the ground, where players throw, pick up, and catch the stones in different combinations with only one hand. Although traditionally played with real stones, pyramid-shaped cloth bags that are filled with grain or sand are more commonly used nowadays. To begin each level of the game, players throw all five stones on the ground. The first level involves throwing one stone into the air, picking up another from the ground, and catching the falling first stone before it touches the ground. This repeats until all the stones are caught in one hand. In the next few levels of the game, the player similarly throws up one stone but picks up more stones from the ground each time before catching the falling stone. Throughout the piece, the number “five” features prominently, beginning with the opening motif which features five pitches, a quintuplet, and a dyad held for five beats. The gestures involved in playing a game of five stones are also mirrored musically – the falling appoggiaturas reflect the throwing of the stones to the ground at the beginning of the game and the left-hand pizzicato represent the picking up of stones from the ground.
This work was commissioned as the set piece for the National Piano and Violin Competition 2021 (Violin Senior Category).
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