Pandas in the Bamboo Forest

Pandas in the Bamboo Forest
Composed by Phyllis Avidan Louke
For Flute Choir
Published by Alry Publications
Duration: 5 minutes
Includes score and parts

Instrumentation:
Piccolo
3 C Flutes
Alto Flute (or Flute 4)
Bass Flute
Contrabass Flute (or Bass Flute 2)

Program Notes:
Pandas in the Bamboo Forest was commissioned by Linda Mintener and the Madison Flute Choir and premiered in 2017. It is written antiphonally; the performers should be spread around the front, sides, and back of the performance hall to take full advantage of the antiphonal structure of the music.
Written in two sections marked Andante and Allegretto, each section uses a slightly different form of the pentatonic scale. The melody of the Allegretto section is based on a Shanghai Opera Melody called Purple Bamboo Melody. This melody fits the title of this composition and dovetails nicely with the original melody written for the andante section. In addition, there are different textures within the piece as the instrumentation changes from full ensemble to a small chamber ensemble and from melodies shifting from the c-flutes and piccolo to the low flutes. These textural changes also create variety in the dynamics. The antiphonal construction of Pandas in the Bamboo Forest includes interjections played by the different sections in the flute choir, and melodies alternating between Flutes 1, 2, and 3.