WINGATE: METAPHYSICAL MONOLOGUE NO. 7 
for Marimba Solo

Date:
2021

Duration:
4'30"

Notes:
Opening with an ascending gesture of cautious optimism, this seventh Metaphysical Monologue is a study in articulatory contrasts, employing various combinations of staccato and sostenuto utterances on the concert marimba. Achieved by bowing the bars of the instrument with bass bows, these sustained tones seem to float in the aether, often punctuated by the more-properly-percussive, mallet-struck notes. Navigating these expressive modulations is a virtuosic affair for the marimbist, not unlike the quick changes from arco to pizzicato for the violist in the Metaphysical Monologue No. 2. The primary seven-note pitch series used in this marimba piece is transposed to all levels, with the results fastened into melodic strands throughout the various episodes, expanded into rotational arrays. At times the relentless repeated-note figures also recall the repeated septuplets of the first Monologue for flute, similarly built from a seven-note set, and here enhanced by a roving 7/8 time signature. After obsessively reiterating its arguments, but often interrupted by unsure pauses, this monologue concludes with a gesture echoing the opening, rounded off with the same three notes, now dubious of their finality.