Single nr. 6: Three Miniatures for Tap Dance and Percussion, with Anders Kregnes Hansen

Ever since I saw Anders perform some contemporary compositions in 2011 I knew that it would be interesting to work with him. In a couple of improvised concerts this was confirmed! When I asked him to join the album project he proposed to write a composition for us, which will later be released as sheet music. We met every other month to investigate possibilities with my loose taps, water container and regular tap on a wooden board, combined with his arsenal of percussion instruments. Then we met at Scenehuset and worked on it for 3 days before recording it. 

The composition has three movements, each consisting of around three minutes. 

1. Movement 1: water, snare and castanets
2. Movement 2: rhythm section on boards and drums
3. Movement 3: carillon of hanging taps, vibraphone, sort of castanets with taps

It was special to try to fullfill Anders’ wishes for the music, as opposed to spontaneously delivering my own ideas in reaction to him. Now it was my task to be as precise as possible within the composition. 

For the first movement we put a bunch of taps together and made something like castanets. There was a lot to handle at once, tap dancing in water and shaking those “castanets” at the same time. Tap dance wise the second movement was most normal. The rhythm has a roll in the beginning, and it was challenging to keep time and not rush forward every time I did the roll. In the third movement I was playing my hanging taps with a mallet, as a sort of carillon. This was completely new to me! I love the off-sounding taps combined with the perfectly pitched vibraphone. I felt like I was making a kid's drawing, and Anders was completing my picture as a grown-up professional, together it was beautiful. The room has a little reverb and turned out to have quite some noise from outside, where there’s a tram stop right in front of the door. When we recorded we waited for it to get quiet before starting. Once, the sound of sirens was recorded onto the last movement.

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Performed by Anders Kregnes Hansen (percussion) and Janne Eraker (water container, tap shoes on a yoga mat, wood, metal, loose taps hanging, taps as castanets).
Composed by Anders Kregnes Hansen
Recorded by Audun Strype at Scenehuset
Mixed by Audun Strype


About Anders Kregnes Hansen
Anders Kregnes Hansen is a percussionist with a strong focus on contemporary music, performance and innovative genres. He excels both as a chamber musician and soloist. Hansen is a versatile musician who regularly works with most of the professional orchestras in Norway, as well as in the contemporary ensemble Aksiom. He has contributed on several recordings in contemporary music, classical, jazz, and pop/rock. Of these, several have been nominated for the Norwegian grammy award. As a performer he has premiered dozens of new pieces for percussion, and held concerts all over Europe. Hansen has a masters degree in performing classical percussion from the Norwegian Academy of Music. 

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