Sean William Calhoun | Composer and pianist

Lambency is a set of beginner to intermediate pieces for solo vibraphone (with one optional ensemble). The title refers both to the tone of the vibraphone and to the approach of the movements — they emphasize color, but most with a soft glow. Swaying Hold and Holding Sway both feature rocking figures, the former more lilting, the latter more resolute. Nacre softly outlines iridescent harmonies. Abandoned Archways and Trick of the Light both feature two-voices and assymetric rhythmic patterns — the former gives a sense of space and emptiness; the latter is much brighter and more energetic. Shadowed Trails features imitative two-part counterpoint. Ketek is the name of a poetic form, which is palindromic not by letters but by words in Brandon Sanderson’s series The Stormlight Archive — this is rendered musically as a palindrome of 11 phrases, with phrase 1 the same as phrase 11, phrase 2 the same as phrase 10, etc., with phrase 6, the longest, the only unrepeated phrase. The Fey has a melody built out of a short figure over luminous shifting harmonies. The final movement is separated as an epilogue — still written as a solo piece, but intended to be played by 2-4 players in canon.