Tortuga (2025)

• for low C tenor steel pan

• ~7’30”

Last Summer I went on a vacation with my family, and we had a lot of fun and drank a lot of rum. This piece is inspired by that time: an evening on an island with family and friends, watching the sunset and drinking (maybe a little too much) rum until the night gets away from you.

I first learned to play this instrument at university, and immediately fell in love with its beautiful and unique sound. I wanted to showcase that sound here, utilizing it’s dynamic range and resonance. I also wanted to show how fun this instrument is to play, and how things that look quite difficult on paper are deceptively easier due to the surprisingly intuitive note layout. Not that I made this one easy by any means, just that the sheet music looks a bit harder than it actually is.