THE 3 Gs

Kenji Bunch
(b. Portland, OR, July 27, 1973)

Composed 2005; 4 minutes

This concert etude marries demanding bow and pizzicato techniques from the classical world with what Kenji Bunch refers to as ’tricks’ from bluegrass. One of those is the ’chop’ where the bow makes a brusque, unpitched stopped sound close to the bridge. It’s all difficult to write down, Bunch admits, and even more difficult to read from the page and still maintain what’s important – the ’groove’ – all while coping with some fearsome technical challenges. Bunch first composed the piece and kept it in his head, performing it from memory without worrying how it looked on the page. But then came the hard work – writing it down!