Sheet Music: “The Meeting”

Arguably one of the oddest pieces Tom Rule has ever created – well, perhaps “avant garde” is a more refined description. The Meeting, from the 2023 album The Week Begins, is a “phoneme” piece. There are no words, just phonemes [the building blocks of speech].

The piece can be performed by 3 or 4 or more performers. It depicts, over a bouncy slide projector ostinato, a sales meeting of some kind. One or Two Presenters are doing an enthusiastic hard sell to a Skeptic [a.k.a. The Adult] and a Curmudgeon [who apparently is a bit older and a bit decaffeinated, since at one point he starts mumbling to himself].

It is a lot of fun to perform, and a sonic surprise for the audience. The Ostinato accompaniment is on Youtube [complete with cues for measure numbers and rehearsal marks that sync with the sheet music.].

You can hear the original recording on Youtube.

The sheet music is available at JW Pepper, Sheet Music Direct, and Sheet Music Plus