A Guide to the Open Score Collection

Thirty-seven works for flexible instrumentation by Award-winning composer Jordan Nobles, 1997 to 2026.

Every piece in this collection can be played by whatever instruments you have. Most need no conductor, many can be read at sight, and several are coordinated by nothing more than a stopwatch or timer.

Scores are free to download.

This guide is in three parts: a short section organized by ensemble type, a quick-reference table, and the full catalogue with a description of every piece. Every piece title links to its score and recordings on the Open Score Collection page.

Recordings of most of the pieces are collected on Apple Music and Spotify.

Start here: which pieces suit your ensemble

Pieces appear under every type of group they suit, so most are listed more than once. Within each list the easiest pieces come first.

University new music ensembles

Mixed instrumentation, strong readers, a few rehearsals available. Almost the whole collection works here; these are grouped from easy to advanced.

Easy: Andromeda and Negative Space (stopwatch pieces, quiet and spacious), Equilibrium (one thirteen-note chord), Grace and Stasis (the gentlest free pieces), Quickening and Rogue Waves.

Moderate: Cinquanta (15 or more, a glittering chord field), The Library of Babel (large, stopwatch-cued, premiered by the Vancouver Symphony), Chiaroscuro (stopwatch cells, best in a reverberant hall), Surface Tension (with Quickening and Rogue Waves it forms a 13 to 15 minute trilogy, played attacca), Nocturne, Museum Pieces, Lagrange Point, Foreign Lands, Simulacrum (rotating soloist) and Quaver (pulsed cells in and out of phase).

Advanced: Tonnetz (phasing loops on the tone network), On a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam (a cued, decelerating pulse) and Pulses (thirteen systems of metric modulation).

Percussion ensembles

Mallet instruments are a natural home for this music; an entire album of it exists (Marimba Collage, University of Windsor Percussion Ensemble, Nicholas Papador).

Tonnetz. Looping cells on the tone network, phasing against one another.
Rosetta Stone (exactly 3). Fixed interlocking rhythm, free pitches; written with three marimbas in mind.
Temporal Waves (quartet or trio), Pulses and Quaver. The rhythmically demanding ones: metric modulation and in-time cells.
Oort Cloud (stopwatches). Premiered on twelve glockenspiels.
Foreign Oceans (eight mallet parts plus others, stopwatches, 6 minutes). Bowed vibraphones and marimbas, pitch bends, soft chords on the clock.
Möbius (4 or more, stopwatches, 6 to 12 minutes). One-minute loops of two-note cells.
Cinquanta (15 or more, stopwatches). For a large mallet ensemble.
Chiaroscuro and Lagrange Point. Cell pieces that sit well on vibraphones and marimbas.
Still Life and Grace. Sustained and quiet; recorded on multiple marimbas.
Grace. quiet; a beginner work
Spin (any size). Premiered by a large percussion ensemble around a three-storey atrium.

String orchestras and school strings

Pieces that work with strings alone and reward a section that can play quietly.

Grace (any size). Written with string orchestra in mind.
Stasis (4 or more). The simplest piece in the collection: any note from a fixed set, one bow at a time.
Still Life (8 or more, 5 minutes). Eight sustained lines, freely doubled.
Surface Tension (any size). Long tones and slow glissandi, sul ponticello.
Equilibrium (10 or more). One chord of stacked fifths; premiered by the Vancouver Symphony.
Event Horizon and Andromeda (stopwatches). Whisper-quiet sustained tones and soft two-note cells, ideal for a large string section.
Circle of Fifths (12 or more). The section stands around the audience at the hours of a clock.
æther (any size). Soft phrases over a G drone.
Chiaroscuro (5 or more, stopwatches). Independent cells in a reverberant space.
Pulses and Quaver. For strong, rhythmically confident sections.

Wind bands and wind ensembles

Large groups of winds and brass, often with limited rehearsal. Pieces that read at sight and fill a hall.

Stasis and Grace (any size). Two free pieces that read at sight.
Aeternum Vale (any size, 5 minutes). Quiet and elegiac, ideal for commemorative programs.
Equilibrium (10 or more). Parts written for the common wind and brass instruments.
Event Horizon and Andromeda (stopwatches). Long sustained tones and soft cells for a large group of sustaining instruments.
Circle of Fifths (12 or more). Twelve stations around the audience; won the Unbound Flute Festival competition.
æther and Nocturne (any size). Soft phrases over a drone; a single melody in a drifting canon.
Chiaroscuro (5 or more, stopwatches). Cells timed to the clock.
Pulses and Quaver. For advanced ensembles that can hold a pulse across metric modulations.

Guitar and plucked ensembles

Guitars, harps and other plucked instruments, from trio up.

Parallel II (3 or more, about 8 minutes). Bell-like notes in each player’s own rhythm.
Rosetta Stone (exactly 3). Three guitars; open strings and natural harmonics are one of the suggested pitch languages.
Oort Cloud (stopwatches). Guitars and harps are named on the title page.
Möbius (4 or more, stopwatches). Recorded with harp, guitars and mallets.
Cinquanta (15 or more, stopwatches). For a guitar orchestra.
Grace (any size). Quiet grace notes and held tones, strings left to ring.
Temporal Waves (quartet or trio). Originally a guitar quartet; recorded by the Victoria Guitar Trio.
Pulses and Quaver. For advanced plucked ensembles.

Piano and mallet ensembles

Multiple pianos, or pianos with vibraphones, marimbas and harps.

Möbius (4 or more, stopwatches). Released in a version for ten grand pianos.
Oort Cloud (stopwatches). Pianos, harps and mallets drifting through a harmonic cloud.
Parallel II (3 or more). Any combination of piano, harp, vibraphone, chimes, glockenspiel, crotales.
Cinquanta (15 or more, stopwatches). Sustaining chords from a room full of keyboards and mallets.
Grace, Chiaroscuro, Lagrange Point and Spin. Cell pieces that ring well on pianos and mallet instruments.
Temporal Waves (quartet or trio). Four pianos works as well as four guitars.
Pulses and Quaver. For advanced groups.

Solos, duos, trios and small ensembles

One player up to about eight, of any instruments, including student chamber groups and touring ensembles.

Nocturne (1 or more). A single melody with ossia; works as a solo, a duo, or a drifting canon for many.
Museum Pieces (1 to 8). Eight two-minute solos for specific instruments, playable alone or in any combination.
Rosetta Stone (exactly 3). Fixed interlocking rhythm, free pitches; for any trio of similar instruments.
Undercurrents (4 or more, 2 to 10 minutes). A passed-around melody with echoes.
Simulacrum (4 or more). A rotating soloist with the ensemble shadowing the line.
Ostinati (4 or more, needs a piano, guitar or mallet player). Relaxed, pulsed, steadily shifting.
Foreign Lands (any size, voices welcome). Soft phrases with no synchronization.
30 Crows (winds and strings plus piano and percussion). Melodic phrases over a hypnotic ostinato.
Foreign Oceans (stopwatches, 6 minutes). Written parts for about two dozen instruments; works with any subset.

Galleries, outdoors and site-specific performance

Pieces designed to be spread through a space, or to move through it, indoors or out.

Pneuma (wind ensemble of any size, with guitar, piano or vibes). Musicians wander from stand to stand, so the music circulates around the audience; works outdoors.
Arteries (any size). A graphic score of branching paths that performers each walk in their own direction.
Circle of Fifths (12 or more). Twelve stations around the room or the field; players may walk clockwise through the harmony.
Museum Pieces (1 to 8). Solos hung in different corners of a room like paintings in a gallery.
Andromeda, Equilibrium, Stasis, Grace and æther (any size). Quiet free or stopwatch pieces that spread naturally through a large space.
Chiaroscuro and Lagrange Point. Cell pieces written for players surrounding the audience; churches and atriums ideal.
Nocturne (1 or more). A melody that can be scattered through a building.
Parallel II (3 or more). Bell-like instruments in different rooms of a gallery.
Cinquanta (15 or more, stopwatches). A large spatialized ensemble for a festival site.

Quick reference

Coordination: “free” means no conductor and no synchronization; “stopwatch” means each player follows a timer; “pulse” means the group plays in time together. Difficulty: Easy reads at sight, Moderate wants a rehearsal or two, Advanced needs real preparation.

Piece	Year	Players	Instruments	Coordination	Duration	Difficulty
Tonnetz	2026	any	any, strong on mallets and percussion	pulse	variable	Advanced
30 Crows	2023	any	winds, strings, plus piano and percussion for the ostinato	pulse	variable	Moderate
Pneuma	2022	any	wind ensemble, with guitar, piano or vibes	free, mobile	variable	Easy
Arteries	2021	any	any	free	variable	Moderate
Event Horizon	2021	any	quietly sustaining	stopwatch	variable	Easy
Foreign Oceans	2020	any	mixed, strong on mallets, harp, guitar	stopwatch	6 min	Moderate
Andromeda	2020	any	any	stopwatch	variable	Easy
Oort Cloud	2019	any	pianos, harps, guitars, mallets	stopwatch	variable	Easy
The Library of Babel	2019	large	any	stopwatch	variable	Moderate
Cinquanta	2018	15+	pianos, guitars, mallets	stopwatch	variable	Moderate
Aeternum Vale	2017	any	any, including voices	free	5 min	Moderate
Negative Space	2017	12+	any	stopwatch	6 to 10 min	Easy
Rosetta Stone	2016	3	three similar instruments	pulse	3 to 4 min+	Advanced
Circle of Fifths	2016	12+	any	free	10 min	Easy
Equilibrium	2015	large	any	free	6 to 10 min	Easy
Möbius	2015	4+	any	stopwatch	6 to 12 min	Easy
Chiaroscuro	2014 rev. 2019	5+	mixed chamber	stopwatch	10 min	Moderate
Nocturne	2013	1+	any	free	variable	Moderate
Museum Pieces	2012	1 to 8	specific solos	free	10 min	Moderate
Quickening	2012	any	any	free	3 to 5 min	Easy
Surface Tension	2012	any	any	free	5 min+	Moderate
Rogue Waves	2012	any	any	free	5 min	Easy
On a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam	2012	4+	mixed, needs a mallet or keyboard pulse player	pulse, cued	6.5 min	Advanced
Lagrange Point	2012	6+	any	free	variable	Moderate
æther	2012	any	any, including voices	free	variable	Easy
Spin	2012	any	any	free	variable	Moderate
Still Life	2006 rev. 2012	8+ or two pianos	any	pulse	5 min	Easy
Foreign Lands	2011	any	any, including voices	free	variable	Moderate
Simulacrum	2010	4+	any	free	variable	Moderate
Grace	2009	any	chamber ensemble or string orchestra	free	variable	Easy
Ostinati	2009	4+	any, with non-wind ostinato players	pulse	variable	Easy
Undercurrents	2008	4+	any	free	2 to 10 min	Moderate
Stasis	2007	4+	any	free	variable	Easy
Temporal Waves	2001	3 or 4	pianos, harps, guitars, mallets	pulse	6 to 10 min	Advanced
Pulses	1999	5+	melodic instruments	pulse	8 to 25 min	Advanced
Quaver	1997	4 to 8	melodic instruments	pulse	8 to 14 min	Moderate
Parallel II	1997	3+	piano, guitar, vibes, harp, bells	free	8 min	Easy

The catalogue

Newest first. Every score is a free download; recordings and videos are linked where they exist.

Tonnetz (2026)

Any number of players, any instruments, strongest with mallets and percussion. Played in time. Duration variable. Dedicated to Steve Reich.
Players roam the Tonnetz “tone network”, cell by cell, each one looping in its own meter, rhythms phasing as the harmony constantly changes.
Best for: percussion ensembles and university new music ensembles.
Score

30 Crows (2023)

Any combination of winds and strings, plus piano and percussion for the ostinato. Duration variable. Commissioned by ICOT; dedicated to Katelin Rose Coleman.
Thirty melodic phrases, the crows, flutter freely in the winds and strings above a steady, hypnotic ostinato, the tree, held by piano and percussion, each player choosing which birds to give voice to, so the flock lands differently at every performance.
Best for: mixed chamber ensembles and new music groups with a solid rhythm section.
Score · Score video · Album: Recurrence, ICOT Chamber Ensemble (Leaf Music)

Pneuma (2022)

Wind ensemble of any size, with guitar, piano or vibraphone, wandering the space. Duration variable. Commissioned by the Little Chamber Series, Vancouver.
Musicians wander the performance space from music stand to music stand, breathing out long tones, gentle pulses, and repeating phrases, so the music itself circulates around the audience like air through a room.
Best for: galleries, atriums, churches and outdoor spaces, anywhere the audience can sit inside the music.
Score

Arteries (2021)

Any number of players, spatialized. Duration variable.
A graphic score in which performers each wander their own path through a branching network of interconnected musical cells, like blood through veins, creating an immersive, ever-shifting web of overlapping gestures.
Best for: ensembles comfortable with graphic notation; site-specific and installation settings.
Score

Event Horizon (2021)

Any number of quietly sustaining instruments. Stopwatches. Duration variable.
Coordinated only by stopwatches, players sustain whisper-quiet, breath-length tones that surface at their appointed second within a minute-long loop, holding the music at the very threshold between sound and silence.
Best for: large ensembles of sustaining instruments, string orchestras and wind ensembles; the quietest piece in the collection.
Score with transpositions

Foreign Oceans (2020)

Any size; mixed ensemble, strongest with mallets, harp and guitar, with written parts for about two dozen instruments. Stopwatches. About 6 minutes. Commissioned by the Sound of Dragon ensemble.
Six minutes in three tides: bowed tones that hang in the air, pitches that bend slowly downward, then soft chords dropped into five-second windows, each player drifting through their own part by the clock.
Best for: percussion ensembles and mixed chamber ensembles, including cross-cultural groups.
Video performance · Score: full set of parts coming to the site

Andromeda (2020)

Any number of players, spatialized. Stopwatches. Duration variable. Commissioned by the Jeremy Brown Collective, Calgary.
A constellation of soft two-note cells, each cued to a second on the players’ stopwatches and shaped at their own discretion, as long tones, slow phrases, or gentle alternations, forming a slowly wheeling galaxy of sound.
Best for: university ensembles, string orchestras, wind ensembles and outdoor or gallery settings; a good first stopwatch piece.
Score

Oort Cloud (2019)

Any number of attack-decay instruments: pianos, harps, guitars, glockenspiels, vibraphones, marimbas. Stopwatches. Duration variable. Premiered by the UBC Percussion Ensemble on twelve glockenspiels.
Written for attack-decay instruments whose randomly repeated single pitches, set loose at their own moments on the clock, drift past like distant icy bodies in a vast, slowly orbiting harmonic cloud.
Best for: percussion ensembles, piano and harp groups, guitar orchestras.
Score · Video, 12 glockenspiels

The Library of Babel (2019)

Large ensemble, stopwatch-cued. Duration variable. Premiered by the Vancouver Symphony, William Rowson conducting.
Inspired by Borges’ infinite library, performers choose freely among a vast collection of small melodic fragments cued to the seconds of a clock, every one drawn from a single hidden melody that, like the library’s fabled index, never reveals itself.
Best for: orchestras and large university ensembles.
Score · Audio excerpt, Vancouver Symphony

Cinquanta (2018)

Large ensemble, 15 or more: pianos, guitars and mallet instruments. Stopwatches. Duration variable, decided ahead. Premiered at Sound Symposium XIX, St. John’s.
Fifty minute-long staves of soft three-to-five-note chords, each player choosing a handful to repeat at the second shown on their stopwatch, so a huge ensemble produces a slow, glittering harmonic weather system.
Best for: large university, percussion, guitar and keyboard ensembles, festivals and site-specific events.
Score · Video excerpt

Aeternum Vale (2017)

Any size, instruments or voices, no coordination. 5 minutes recommended. Commissioned by the Hard Rubber Orchestra Society.
Everyone repeats fragments of a single descending whole-tone line in their own time, swelling to a cascade in the middle and thinning to the lowest notes at the end: a farewell in sound.
Best for: wind bands, choirs with instruments, commemorative and memorial programs.
Score

Negative Space (2017)

Large ensemble, 12 or more, any instruments. Stopwatches. 6 to 10 minutes. Premiered at the Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver.
Players read any note from a shared grid and play it as a six-second long tone or gentle triple pulse at the second shown on their stopwatch, filling the room with quiet sounds that never quite line up.
Best for: university new music ensembles in reverberant spaces.
Score · Audio excerpt, Still Life Ensemble

Rosetta Stone (2016)

Exactly three similar instruments: marimbas, guitars, pianos, strings, harps, or resonant found objects. 3 to 4 minutes or longer. Dedicated to John Cage.
Three players share the same interlocking rhythmic canon but each chooses their own pitches in the moment, so the rhythm is fixed and the harmony is never the same twice.
Best for: trios of any kind, especially percussion and guitar trios.
Score · Video, percussion trio · Albums: Rosetta Stone (Daniel Tones), Marimba Collage

Circle of Fifths (2016)

12 or more players at the twelve positions of a clock, one or more per position. 10 minutes recommended. Winner, Unbound Flute Festival Composition Competition, Brisbane.
Musicians stand at the twelve hours of a clock around the audience, each hour sounding its note of the circle of fifths as soft long tones at its own tempo, with players optionally drifting clockwise through the harmony.
Best for: wind bands, string orchestras, galleries and outdoor spaces.
Score · Audio excerpt, Mark Takeshi McGregor, flutes

Equilibrium (2015)

Large ensemble, any instruments, with parts written for the common ones. No coordination. 6 to 10 minutes. Commissioned and premiered by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
The whole ensemble lives inside one enormous thirteen-note chord of stacked fifths, each player roaming freely among their given notes, quietly, with no pulse and no harmonic motion at all.
Best for: university ensembles, string orchestras, wind ensembles and large spaces.
Score · Video · Album: Surface Tension, Ethos Collective

Möbius (2015)

4 or more players, any instruments. Stopwatches. 6 to 12 minutes. Commissioned by the Blueridge Chamber Music Festival.
A set of one-minute looping strips of soft two-note cells, each timed to a second on the stopwatch, that players repeat or hop between, creating a Möbius band of harmony with no beginning or end.
Best for: percussion ensembles, piano ensembles, harp and guitar groups, mixed chamber.
Score · Albums: Rosetta Stone (ten grand pianos), Möbius (harp, mallets, guitars), Marimba Collage

Chiaroscuro (2014, rev. 2019)

5 or more players, mixed chamber ensemble, with parts for the common orchestral instruments. Stopwatches. About 10 minutes. Commissioned by Vancouver New Music; dedicated to Giorgio Magnanensi.
Each player has a set of independent cells to be played only at the matching ten-second mark on a stopwatch, so light and shadow pass through a reverberant space as voices appear and fall silent.
Best for: university, string, wind, percussion and keyboard ensembles of 5 to 20 in churches and atriums.
Parts · Album: Chiaroscuro

Nocturne (2013)

1 or more players, any instruments. Duration open. Premiered by the Vertical Orchestra.
A single long melody with simpler ossia, entered one player at a time and played as if each were the soloist, so the tune overlaps with itself in a drifting nocturnal canon.
Best for: soloists and duos, small chamber groups, university and wind ensembles, and scattered through a building.
Score · Albums: Surface Tension, Remote Together (Catherine Lee), Marimba Collage

Museum Pieces (2012)

1 to 8 players: solos for low piano, high piano, flute, voice with piano, violin, cello or viola, vibraphone and clarinet. About 10 minutes. Commissioned by the BC Registered Music Teachers’ Association.
Eight two-minute solos, each inspired by a twentieth-century artwork, performed alone or simultaneously in different corners of the room like paintings hung in one gallery.
Best for: soloists, student recitals, small chamber groups, university ensembles and galleries.
Score · Video, Sputter Box

Quickening (2012)

Any size, any instruments. 3 to 5 minutes. Premiered by the Aventa Ensemble; dedicated to Jocelyn Morlock.
Seven systems of tremolo swells that start as fast as possible and gradually decelerate, system by system, until everything settles onto a single C drone.
Best for: new music ensembles and orchestras; first of the trilogy with Surface Tension and Rogue Waves.
Score · Video, Aventa Ensemble · Albums: Marimba Collage, Violent, Violent Sea

Surface Tension (2012)

Any size, any instruments. 5 minutes or more. Premiered by the Aventa Ensemble.
A suspended harmony of soft long tones and slow glissandi, each player choosing when to enter and listening before entering again.
Best for: string orchestras, wind groups, mixed ensembles of any size.
Score · Video, Aventa Ensemble · Albums: Surface Tension, Violent, Violent Sea

Rogue Waves (2012)

Any size, any instruments; percussion on mallets. About 5 minutes. Premiered by the Aventa Ensemble.
Fifty cells of pitch sets, each played once as an expressive rising or falling gesture that fades on its last note, like waves breaking unpredictably across the ensemble.
Best for: mixed ensembles and percussion; closer of the trilogy.
Score · Video, Aventa Ensemble · Albums: Surface Tension, Violent, Violent Sea

On a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam (2012)

4 or more players; one on vibraphone, piano or marimba keeps and cues the pulse. About 6 and a half minutes. Commissioned by the Ethos Collective.
One player keeps a steady pulse that drops a semitone and slows every thirty seconds, from F at 120 down to the F an octave below at 60, while the ensemble plays melodic cells in time above it.
Best for: university chamber ensembles, groups with a strong keyboard or mallet player.
Score · Video, Ethos Collective · Albums: Surface Tension, Marimba Collage

Lagrange Point (2012)

6 or more players, any instruments. No coordination. Duration open. Commissioned by the Turning Point Ensemble; dedicated to Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Numerous melodic cells played in any order in each player’s own time, opening and closing with quiet long tones, suspending the music at its own Lagrange point between motion and silence.
Best for: university, percussion and keyboard ensembles, atriums.
Score · Video, Redshift Music · Albums: Lagrange Point (Negative Zed), Surface Tension · Video installation

æther (2012)

Any size, any instruments including voices. No coordination. Duration open. Dedicated to Kelly Nobles.
Soft phrases, each the length of a breath or bow, chosen freely by every player over a quiet G drone that opens and closes the piece.
Best for: string orchestras, wind ensembles, voices with instruments, and large open spaces.
Score · Albums: Rosetta Stone (Kelly Nobles), Marimba Collage

Spin (2012)

Any size, any instruments. Duration agreed ahead. Written for Redshift Music’s 10th anniversary; premiered by a large percussion ensemble around a three-storey atrium.
Each musician repeats their own short cell at their own speed, fading in and out, so the phrases spin around one another like orbiting bodies in a slowly turning sky.
Best for: percussion and mallet ensembles, piano ensembles.
Score · Audio excerpt · Album: Marimba Collage

Still Life (2006, rev. 2012)

8 or more players, or two pianos; eight lines, freely doubled, played in time. 5 minutes. The choral original won first prize in the Vancouver Bach Choir’s national competition and represented Canada at ISCM World Music Days 2009.
Eight sustained lines with no melody and no rhythm, a single frozen moment stretched over five minutes, in which the stillness itself slowly moves.
Best for: string orchestras, school strings and percussion ensembles.
Score and parts · Albums: Rosetta Stone (Katie Rife, marimbas), Marimba Collage, Pennsylvania All-State Chorus (choral version)

Foreign Lands (2011)

Any size, any instruments including voices. No coordination. Duration agreed ahead. Premiered by Negative Zed and Contact Contemporary Music.
Melodic cells on a symmetrical scale, played in any order and any octave with no synchronization, with optional games of mimicry and processions in and out of the space.
Best for: university ensembles and small mixed chamber groups.
Score · Albums: Surface Tension, Marimba Collage

Simulacrum (2010)

4 or more players, any instruments; score in all keys and clefs. Two or three times through. Premiered by six ensembles across Canada on the same night; dedicated to Gavin Bryars. Nominated for Classical Composition of the Year, Western Canadian Music Awards 2012.
A soloist plays a rubato lead line while the others shadow it with cells placed in line with the melody; when the line ends another player takes it, and the ensemble accompanies it differently each time.
Best for: university ensembles and small mixed chamber groups, including touring ensembles.
Score · Score video · Performances: MolOt-ensemble, Artemis · Albums: Undercurrents (Contact), …ohne zu wissen warum!? (Soli fan tutti)

Grace (2009)

Any size; chamber ensemble or string orchestra. No coordination. Duration open. Written for Ensemble Mujirushi, Ghent.
Quiet cells of grace notes and held tones played in any order with no pulse, like bubbles breaking on the surface of a still pond.
Best for: almost any group: string orchestras, wind bands, percussion, guitar and keyboard ensembles, university ensembles, galleries.
Score · Video · Albums: Undercurrents, Marimba Collage

Ostinati (2009)

4 or more players; the ostinati are for piano, guitar, mallets or strings, with winds on the melodies. Duration open. Premiered by Motion Ensemble; dedicated to Brian Eno.
Repeating ostinati held by keyboard, guitar or mallet players provide a pulse over which the others play small melodies at random, in a relaxed, steadily shifting harmonic canvas.
Best for: small groups with piano or guitar plus melody instruments, student ensembles.
Score · Albums: Undercurrents, Marimba Collage

Undercurrents (2008)

4 or more players, any instruments. 2 to 10 minutes. Commissioned by Contact Contemporary Music; premiered at the Royal Ontario Museum.
One player carries an emotive melody while the others play reflections and echoes of it; the melody passes to a new soloist each time through.
Best for: small mixed groups of 4 to 8, student chamber music.
Score · Album: Undercurrents

Stasis (2007)

4 or more players, any instruments. One cue at the end. Duration open. Premiered by the Vancouver Miniaturist Ensemble.
Players choose any note from a fixed set, each lasting a single breath or bow, soft and in the written octave only, until one player cues the final held chord.
Best for: a first open score piece for any group: strings, winds, university ensembles, outdoor and gallery settings.
Score · Albums: Undercurrents, Marimba Collage

Temporal Waves (2001)

Exactly 4 (or 3 in the trio version): pianos, harps, guitars, vibraphones, marimbas or any combination. 6 to 10 minutes.
Repeating cells that fade in and out, passed between four players through a chain of metric modulations, so the pulse keeps shifting while the harmony rings on.
Best for: guitar quartets, percussion quartets, piano ensembles, advanced students.
Quartet score · Trio score · Albums: Undercurrents (Rob McDonald), Concentric Rings (Victoria Guitar Trio)

Pulses (1999)

5 or more melodic instruments, mixed ensembles best. 8 to 25 minutes. Written for Motion Ensemble.
Thirteen systems each in its own key, character and tempo, linked by metric modulations, through which players move independently choosing cells on the spot.
Best for: advanced ensembles of any kind: university, string, wind, percussion, guitar and keyboard groups.
Score · Album: Chiaroscuro

Quaver (1997)

4 to 8 melodic instruments. 8 to 14 minutes. Written for Ensemble Symposium.
Sixty-two cells of pulsing eighth notes, each swelling from silence to mf and back, played in order but staggered among the players so they drift in and out of phase.
Best for: ensembles of any kind that can hold a pulse: university, string, wind, percussion, guitar and keyboard groups.
Score · Album: Rosetta Stone (Colin MacDonald)

Parallel II (1997)

3 or more attack-decay instruments: piano, guitar, vibraphone, chimes, harp, glockenspiel, crotales. About 8 minutes.
Bell-like instruments play a slow stream of notes in their own rhythm, staying near one another in the score, occasionally humming a note as they go.
Best for: guitar ensembles, piano ensembles, mallet groups, galleries.
Score

Performing these pieces

Scores are free to download and print from the Open Score Collection page.

Licence. A public performance of any piece is covered by a $25 performance licence, payable by PayPal, Wise or e-transfer to jordannobles@gmail.com.

Tell me about it. If you perform a piece, send a line with the date, place and ensemble. It helps the music find its next performers, and it makes sure the performance is reported to SOCAN.

Workshops and visits. Most of these pieces were written to be learned in a rehearsal or two, and I’m happy to coach a first performance by video call or in person. Ensembles and departments interested in a workshop or residency around the collection can write to jordannobles@gmail.com.