Why I think Triwikrama might turn out to be one of my best pieces

I recently workshopped Trwiwikrama as part of the introductory gamelan module that I teach at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. It went really well, and I'm starting to think this may turn out to be one of my best pieces.

Why? Well, several reasons:

Its simple but rewarding to play. I've found that I can teach the trombone gesture in about 10 minutes, and after that the players take to it readily. Long controlled glisses on the trombone are not hard to do, but are an interesting change from what trombonists generally find in the repertoire, whether in classical or commercial playing.

For the gamelan players, again, it is simple to teach but not boring to play, while the person playing the electronic effects gets to have fun making strange sounds.

There is no score. This offers just the right amount of flexibility: everyone knows what the gestures are that make up the piece, but there is still openness in how many times each thing happens.

It sounds effective. I think the audience are going to take to it. The overall impression of the piece will be dramatic and unusual without being weird for the sake of weird, and the story of the piece is a good match for how it sounds.

We'll see! First public outing strongly pencilled in for 4 May 2026.