“Somewhere in Between” is a musical composition that we have composed for the ACIS Southern Conference. The conference takes its theme from Seamus Heaney’s poem “Gravel Walks.” After reading the poem we asked ourselves; “Do we preserve the ‘river gravel’ of ‘High summer’ or drive the ‘cement mixers…come to life’?”

The musical work has two parts that represent the river rock and cement of “The Gravel Walks.” The piece begins with the flow of the river over gravel as heard in a lilting triple rhythm commonly associated with jigs. As the work progresses, the musicians add their own personalities and statements through improvisation. A musical shift takes the listener from the triplet rhythms to a quadruple subdivision that is a defining feature of a reel. This shift represents the transition of the gravel from its natural state to its new use as a tool of progress. In “The Gravel Walks,” Heaney highlights both the beauty of Ireland in a natural state and the value of the progress that transforms his homeland. In the last quatrain he states:

So walk on air against your better judgement
Establishing yourself somewhere in between
Those solid batches mixed with grey cement
And a tune called “The Gravel Walks” that conjures green.

We invited some of our colleagues and friends to join us in the end by performing the traditional Irish tune “The Gravel Walks” on violin over our (cement mixed) reel pattern.

The “in-between-ness” addressed in the poem also made us reflect on our place as musicians in academia. The globalization of curricula at colleges is done in effort to prepare students for an interconnected world where collaboration exists beyond cultural and political boarders. In music, traditional cultures are recorded, analyzed, celebrated and then assimilated, mutated, and (at times) mutilated. As an American percussion group that studies a variety of world styles we are left asking, “Where do we exist?” As we present this original musical work we like to think that we exist Somewhere in Between. Like Heaney, perhaps we too can “Walk on Air.”

We are thrilled that this presentation gave us the opportunity to learn about Irish traditions through exploring basic skills on the bodhran (the traditional Irish frame drum). Grizzly Percussion began this process by learning basic patterns played in traditional Irish reels and jigs. We studied techniques and collected the instruments. We also made our own “tippers” that we use during the performance. The addition of “The Gravel Walks” melody on violin at the end of the performance functions both symbolically and as a concrete way for us to better understand traditional bodhran reel performance. We have learned much and expanded our understanding of Irish culture. Thank you for letting us be a part of this online event.