Through the Astral Plane

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Through the Astral Plane for Timpani and Audio Accompaniment

The astral plane, also called the astral realm or the astral world, is a plane of existence postulated by classical, medieval, oriental, and esoteric philosophies and mystery religions. It is the world of the celestial spheres, crossed by the soul in its astral body on the way to being born and after death, and is generally believed to be populated by angels, spirits or other immaterial beings.

The piece is meant to represent a journey to the astral realm and back. Through meditative instructions at the beginning of the piece, the performer astral projects and begins their journey. The adventure is turbulent and jarring at the first, but with practice, the performer starts to settle into their environment. Eventually, the performer makes it through the astral plane and experiences the wonder and bliss that comes with it. However, all things must come to an end and the performer is eventually catapulted back to their earthly body.

Through the Astral Plane was commissioned by my good friend and colleague, Ryun Louie. An avid timpanist for symphony orchestras nationally and internationally; Ryun felt there was a need for exciting solo literature for Timpani with audio accompaniment. Although the piece has a few virtuosic moments, it was a goal to make it more accessible to advanced high school and college level performers. The piece only requires 4 drums and does not require any extended techniques outside of the realm of traditional performance on the instrument.

Type: Percussion/Backtrack

Composed: 2021

Duration: ~6:18 minutes