The Backstory
Threshold Music Project was founded by Nancy Zeltsman and Paul (PJ) Fadoul and was their first project together. Both have a longstanding love of playing chamber music, combining marimba with violin (Nancy) or flute (Paul). At the PASIC 2019 Pearl/Adams artists cocktail party, Pearl generously raffled some instruments as gifts — the grand prize being a Pearl EM1 malletSTATION that Nancy was shocked to win! (Paul won a beautiful, peaceful-sounding purple tongue drum.) Following PASIC’19, Paul and Nancy were in contact occasionally to begin considering a collaboration. Meanwhile, Paul found himself in need of a glockenspiel, and Pearl’s Shawn Lafrenz pointed out a cost-effective option would be a malletSTATION.
Starting in May 2020 — in the midst of the pandemic lockdown, and the crescendo of a national social reckoning — they began nearly weekly conversations that continued for months. Their goals were to thoughtfully consider what kind of collaboration might be artistically interesting, relevant for the times, and exploratory within the percussion field. They were intrigued that a project combining marimbas and malletSTATIONs could be a means to face their fears of MIDI and technology (and guessed other performers might be curious about the same). It was gratifying that Pearl and Adams were both immediately excited by the project’s creative potential, and offered their generous support. |
We are experiencing and contemplating a rapidly shifting world. We are concerned for issues of justice and human safety, and ever more aware of the space between out “outer” and “inner” worlds. Mindful of this context, we have invited five composers to write for the project whose experience reveals an important voice in these times. The project taps into the expressive capabilities of both the marimba and the malletSTATION and highlights the MIDI instrument’s viability within chamber music.
About the Project Threshold Music Project is launching five commissions, each 5 to 15 minutes in length. Instrumentation will be one of each instrument, or each player on any combination in between, (e.g. sharing the marimba). These commissions may gradually expand to include many more works. The combination of marimba and malletSTATION has the potential to become an established pairing in the percussion world: one that many other players may wish to explore. The premiere of each piece will happen via video, with the possibility of live performances down the road. As scores become available, this website will serve as a resource for how performance materials can be obtained. |