Video
Tabla Solo: Kaida in Rupak tala (T.J. Troy) 2:30 (excerpt)
This is the final two and a half minutes of a long, ten-minute expansion of a simple Kaida in Rupak, a cycle of seven beats. This video was shot by Bill Witter, during the Gurupurnima celebration for our guru, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, which took place on July 29, 2006.
Audio
Tabla Solo: Kaida in Jhaptal (T.J. Troy) 2:31
This kaida is a composition of Swapan Chaudhuri’s, set to a cycle of 10 beats known as Jhaptal, and is part of a longer tabla solo. Kaida is a theme-and-variations style composition, where the performer develops a set theme, spinning the phrases and regrouping them to create new phrases, and finally concluding with a tehai, bringing us back to the theka. This selection features Ellysa Schalla playing nagma on harmonium, providing the framework of the cycle.
TB, TB Road (T.J. Troy) 1:32 (excerpt)
TB, TB Road is a modular composition, meaning that it can be performed on any number or combination of instruments. Several solo sections offset extended, composed unison sections. This particular rendition features me overdubbing several instruments, including riqq, cajon, and doumbek.
Initial Attack (Freshly Squeezed) 1:48
Originally a trio for vibraphone, electric bass and drumset written in 1999, I rewrote Initial Attack in 2005 as a duet for bass clarinet and vibraphone, performed here by Jim Sullivan and myself.
Mourning a fallen father (T.J. Troy/Leon Rothenberg) 1:07 (excerpt)
From the soundtrack of Den Serras’ film Seven Swans, this piece features me on shakuhachi and various percussion instruments, including wind chimes, aluminum tubes, and drums. This score was composed alongside composer and sound designer Leon Rothenberg.
Memory I can't escape (T.J. Troy/Leon Rothenberg) 1:54 (excerpt)
Another selection from Seven Swans, this piece features guitar, percussion, and vocal overdubs, along with Eoin Russell on the Chapman Stick.
Great Western Railway (T.J. Troy) 0:55 (excerpt)
This percussion quintet features instruments invented and developed by Los Angeles composer Kraig Grady; Kraig assisted me in designing, constructing and tuning the low bass meru bars and pitched aluminum tubes that are featured in this selection. This piece is set to a rhythm cycle of 105 beats, and is based on a long polyrhythm of 7-5-4-3, spread out proportionally over the 105 beats. This clip is one complete rendition of this polyrhythm, performed on the meru bars; the cymbals, tubes, and blocks perform related polyrhythms, pocketed within the spaces of the longer figure.