Jericho

Surround-Sound

Some of the musicians begin the work in their surround-sound positions while others begin on stage and move later in the piece. The eventual placement of the forces is:

1. Six percussion stations surround the audience: left and right front, left and right middle, and left and right rear. These are not elaborate set-ups; each has a bass drum or large tom-tom, a suspended cymbal, and one tubular chime removed from the rack. (A total of six chime mallets will be needed.) The parts have been engineered so that two, and perhaps even four, of the six parts can be played by non-percussionists if necessary. (2 parts are hard, 2 are moderate, and 2 are easy).

2. Two trumpets are in the right and left rear corners of the hall, on the balcony if one is available. They play a number of offstage fanfare figures which are answered by the four trumpets onstage.

3. The horn section begins onstage, but eventually moves to surround the audience: one on the left, one of the right, and two in unison in the rear. This is for the sounding of the seven ram's horns (Joshua 6:4). The other four ram's horns are the two offstage trumpets in the two rear corners and two trombones which move to the two front corners of the stage.

4. There is an electronic keyboard and amp behind the audience to create a directional swirl of sound in the last section of the piece. This effect is very important to the piece and every effort should be made to cover the part.

This page last updated on 07/27/07