14 - Xennialism

    This piece is based on the rhythms of a drumline cadence called "Givin' It Up Again" from the 2002 season of the Boston Crusaders Drum Corps. The original cadence was composed by Rich Viano, Lee Hanson and Mike Nelson. 

    The compositional process involved arranging the snare, tenor and bass drum parts into guitar, bass, accordion and trumpet. The piece was composed in sections and the drum set parts was performed separately. 

    Melodies and harmonies were added to the work to connect sections which were simply rhythmic in nature. The listener who is familiar with the original cadence might not recognize the underlying piece but that is the nature of adapting strictly percussive works to melodic and harmonic instruments. I have provided links below to listen to the tune.

    The title of the piece is derived from "Xennial" which is the term for a micro-generation of people born between 1977 and 1983.

https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5ZU0dcUxmk

13 - Christ Is King

    This piece is derived from a cadence composed by Tony Del Rivero sometime in the early 2000s entitled "Incredible Bass". The rhythms were indeed incredible, so I had to slow the performance tempo quite a bit. The resulting feel was laid back and I felt a strumming guitar would work nicely.

    There are many sections to this piece. Near the end is a section which has a Zappa quality to it. Melodies and harmonies obscure a bit of the underlying rhythm but those familiar with the original cadence might be able to discern the form and overall structure.

    The title is a rather obvious connection to the ruler of the Universe, Jesus Christ. I felt that instrumental works can help focus our attention on spiritual matters.

     Here are the links to the audio:

 https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be6OQRp2oK8

12 - Zealousy

    Zealousy is not based on a drumline cadence, instead I took inspiration from the drumline music from one of the fight songs at my high school called "Across the Field." My melody is completely original, of course, but the form and rhythm follow almost perfectly. I always enjoyed the excitement and power provided by the drumline when we played, which in turn inspired my piece.

     The title derives from a combination of zealous and jealousy, no surprise there. You are free to interpret the significance as you like. I have no particular reason for selecting the title, other than I enjoy how the word sounds.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbeCGEiKAmg

   https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

10 - In But Not Of

    I do not remember the original title of the cadence this piece was based on, but we called it ESOL at our school. It is a fairly simple call and response introduction with a rhythmic groove motif played by the bass drums following. I have used the rhythmic motif to create melodic lines played by trumpet, accordion, bass and guitar. On the third repeat section, I introduce a melody which plays over the ostinato provided by the other instruments. Fairly straightforward piece, but it was fun to play as a cadence in high school so I decided to compose something melodic using its form and rhythms.

   The title relates to the name of an early band I was in. We took the concept of "in but not of" from the bible which states in John 17:14 "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

   Here are the links to Youtube and Bandcamp:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_qCaAH1U8Q

  https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

11 - Cosmic Descent

  I based this tune on the Santa Clara Vanguard cadence called "Electric Wheelchair." When I was younger, this cadence was the highest level of drumline performance available and many drumlines attempted the intro, which is iconic.

  The version used is the 1992 version, which is the oldest one I could find the music for. There is complicated rhythmic interplay amongst the instruments and sometimes the form seems erratic. It is not a "crowd pleasing" cadence, unless your crowd is full of drummers.

  The title "Cosmic Descent," which is also the name of the album, was AI generated. I was looking for a two word title where each word begins with C and D respectively. I did this because my first album was called "Adventures Beyond" and I thought I would continue the pattern. The pattern was also continued with naming the 11th song the same as the album. There are also other implications of "Cosmic Descent" but I leave that to the listener to interpret.

  Here is a link to the youtube channel followed by the Bandcamp link.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LalRGcrTP-A

  https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

9 - Axe of the Apostles

  This is a completely original piece. It was based on the idea and basic form of a cadence called "Spider" composed for the Suncoast Sound Drumcorps.

  The rhythm for "Spider" is too well known to easily disguise it even by adding pitches, so I created a completely new rhythm as the underlying structure. The piece is very interactive, with a unison "roll" near the middle. I used an early iteration of the original cadence as the framework.

  The title is an obvious pun on Acts of the Apostles. One is free to read into it what one likes, of course. Here are the links to the different streaming sites.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObacKFDaonw

https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

8 - Quick

    This piece is based on the cadence used by the University of Miami Band of the Hour to run onto the field during half-time shows. It is called Speed. I composed the pitches which best fit into the rhythmic framework. 

    The second section uses the rhythmic and organizational foundation of a tonal bass drumline showcase called "Bass Ram." This piece was a collaborative composition by the 2001 South Florida Percussion Company bassline, of which I was a member. The Bass Ram went through a few iterations throughout the season but I settled on this version, which was from the notation available to me. I decided to slow down the tempo a bit, because the parts would have been almost unplayable in the original tempo.

    Finally, the third section of the piece returns to "Speed" which is only altered slightly from its first appearance.

    "Quick" was a rather obvious title, considering the origins of the piece.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrUAO7LRw5E

    https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

7 - Fountain of Youth

     This piece was inspired by a cadence introduced to me as a senior in high school by a drumline instructor we had from Texas. He called the piece "TNT" and it was divided into 3 sections. I am unaware of the composer unfortunately.

      My composition begins with the guitar playing the main riff, which is based on the bass drum pattern of the original cadence. Then accordion and trumpet play several 12 tone licks in sequence. Some of these can be found in my book 144 Twelve-Tone Guitar Licks available at the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Tone-Guitar-Licks-Alfredo-Zayas/dp/B0C1JJZG4P/ref=sr_1_1?sr=8-1

       Eventually the melody becomes tonal and transitions to the B section. I created a melody to go over this section; something which is not found in the original piece. 

       The piece ends with sections C which includes rhythmic back-and-forth licks between the accordion and the trumpet.

        The title refers to the famous tourist attraction in St. Augustine, Florida.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAc6FWngrV4

https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

6 - Holy Wood

    This piece is based on a cadence called "Tutti Frutti" or "Tooty Fruity" which is itself based on an 80s Miami Bass song. The cadence begins with an audible which is performed by the guitar on my composition. The rest of the piece is pretty straightforward when compared to the original cadence. I could not find the composer of the original drumline piece.

    The second half of the piece is a version of the "Grid" exercise commonly used by drumlines everywhere. I an unaware of the composer for this particular exercise. I arranged the parts to incorporate all the instruments in the triplet rhythms, forming "splits." The drummer I hired for this piece caught on to the rhythm very well and accentuates the other parts nicely.

    The title is in reference to Hollywood Beach, Florida. I vacation there with my family every Summer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm5RbQF3Leo

https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

5 - Electric Lizard

    This piece is based on the cadence "Slice" from the University of Miami. I assume the "slice" is meant to be a slice of orange, a nod to the original home of the Miami Hurricanes football team, the Orange Bowl. This cadence dates from at least the mid-80s and I am unaware of the composer. It has been played by almost every high school in the Miami area.

     The original cadence had 3 distinct bass drum "break downs" or grooves, but I can only recall 2 of them. In my composition, the bass drum grooves are played by the electric guitar. When I played the cadence with the University of Miami Band of the Hour drumline many years ago, the bass drum breaks were used as a platform to have the upper battery players take solos. In my composition, the accordion and trumpets each take a solo, respectively. The count-off is also unique to the UM drumline and was used to begin various cadences.

     

       The name is an allusion to the numerous energetic lizards found all over South Florida.

     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLMo9YswQns

https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

4 - Universe

    "Universe" is an abbreviated nod to the University of Miami, from which the drumline composition originates. The cadence is called "University of Miami Street Beat" composed by someone whose name escapes me now, but I will try to discover soon. I always found the use of "fivelets" intriguing. Here is a video of a midi transcription I made of the sheet music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr5WmDY7dOc

    As far as my original composition, I used the provided rhythms almost exclusively. I created the melodies and harmonies, of course, but I adhered to the basic form fairly strictly. The ending rhythm is mirrored in the previous piece "Grand Vision of Redemption."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEDC74HRGVw

https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

3 - Grand Vision of Redemption

    The original cadence this piece is based off is called "Orange Gumbo" and was composed by Shawn Hines. It was one of the earliest drum music I was exposed to. The opening riff emulates the tonal bass drum line line from the cadence. Every other instrument is layered afterwards. The trumpet plays a completely original melody, followed by the mini-solos. Bass and accordion play a unison line which leads into the final "C" section. 

    The piece, like all the rest on this album, are short, because drumline music, as a general rule, is played on repeat, so cannot be too long or involved. This, of course, does not hold true for "book" music or "show" music, which is composed to accompany a drum corps or marching band, or even mallet percussion ensembles.

     The title refers to God's ultimate salvation plan for humanity through the death and resurrection of His son Jesus Christ. Even though the tune is short, the listener is invited to contemplate deeper thoughts about their eternal soul. Enjoy!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lypkydioAdI

https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

2 - Let's Just Play

      Inspired by the cadence called "Freeze." The cadence is normally performed first at a medium tempo, followed by a slow tempo, and ending with a very quick tempo. Historically, the cadence was played multiple times at football games at various speeds. The drumline would eventually shout "Freeze" and then play the piece extremely slowly.

      My version overlays a melody played by the trumpet to add variety and interest. It is a very straightforward piece although the double stops in the guitar riff can be a bit tricky to play consistently.

      The title comes from a phrase commonly used by me in the context of musical ensembles, particularly those which prefer to talk about the music rather than playing.

     Here is the link to the bandcamp site and a link to the Youtube page.

 https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni9zZ993zzQ

1 - Master Send

    Based on a cadence played at my High School called "Combo." The composer of the cadence is uncertain but I believe his name was Devin. The piece is divided into 3 sections. I composed the initial riff in a fairly straightforward way. The second riff follows the tenor drums almost directly. During the third section I decided to include a trumpet melody to play over the ostinato riff underneath. 

    Three gong hits introduce the piece, and the album consequently. This is a nod to the introduction to Birds of Fire by the Mahavishnu Orchestra; a highly influential album for me. The title refers to an early band I was in sometime around the turn of the century.

    I have provided the links to the piece below.

https://fuzortion.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-descent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2KL3AMxbww

Cosmic Descent Album Introduction