Robert Honstein: Down Down Baby (Score Follow Edition)

Down Down Baby (2016) for two performers
I. Follow the Leader 00:00
II. Daydream 06:51
III. Singing Lesson 07:57
IV. Strange Dance 11:08
V. Daydream 2 14:38
VI. Down Down Baby 15:44
Composed by Robert Honstein (www.roberthonstein.com/)
Performed by New Morse Code on "Lost and Found" (newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.c...)
More information about the piece is here: www.roberthonstein.com/down-d...
Down Down Baby is a childhood clapping game. Kids stand in a circle, clapping hands in choreographed patterns while singing a simple rhyming song. You know - “Shimmy, Shimmy cocoa pop / Shimmy, Shimmy pow”. When I began the piece my son was four months old. As a new Dad I often found myself trying to remember what being a kid was like. At the same time, perhaps with a bit less frequency, I was also thinking about how to approach cello and percussion in a completely new way. The two thoughts merged and I started to wonder if I were a kid with no prior knowledge of cellos and percussion what would I do? My immediate answer - I would hit and pluck in every possible way other than the normal way.
Thinking about childhood, led to games, which led to clapping games, which led to the amazing way two people facing each other performing the same motions become mirrors, which is a mesmerizing thing to watch; so I decided Hannah and Mike would be mirrors, and the cello would be their shared instrument. They would play, sing, whistle and clap (often all at the same time), and it would be hypnotic and joyful, maybe even capture some of the playful spirit and intricate physicality of the game Down Down Baby itself, or at least that was my hope!
With all this in mind, each movement became a short childhood scene. In Follow the Leader the players discover their new instrument, exploring a series of sounds and imitating each other as they go. Next is a brief Daydream, a moment of repose before a spirited Singing Lesson and a beguiling Strange Dance. After a second short Daydream the piece concludes with the title track, Down Down Baby, a kind of virtuosic romp through intricately coordinated hand gestures and interlocking rhythms.
Down Down Baby was commissioned by New Morse Code and developed with the support of the Avaloch Farm Music Institute and premiered October 4, 2016 by New Morse Code at Kansas University.