Scott Stinson Composer
“Throb"
During the summer of 2007 I had been working on two works for percussion simultaneously, in the hope that at least one would evolve into a work of some substance. As the summer drew to a close however, neither score seemed to possess the particular spark I was looking for. It was only during the first week of classes, when one day I developed a particularly severe migraine, that I finally got the work I wanted. I had continued to teach my classes for that day, asking for my students understanding, intending to go home later and be able to rid myself of the pain with a deep sleep. I was not able to sleep, but instead, laying on my bed, started to hear the present musical work developing,with fragments of the previous percussion works working their way through the non-ending painful migraine jolts in my head. I went to my work-desk and sketched out the present 5-minute work more or less complete as you now hear it, the whole time practicing the deep breathing that was the only thing providing me any real relief from the pain. After I’d finished the sketch I was finally able to get to sleep –and “Throb” (originally titled “Migraine”) my long intended work for percussion was basically completed at last.