Instrumentation: solo tenor saxphone Composed: 1996 Duration: 6 minutes I wrote ‘Beat Me’ as a kind of sequel or big brother piece to my earlier composition ‘Black & Blue‘. I guess if you put them together, you get Beat Me Black & Blue! (See also ‘Slap Me‘, ‘Rock Me‘ and ‘Rock Us‘ for more in the series). This work extends the idea of the alto piece and makes use of different kinds of slap tonguing to simulate bass guitar, multiphonics to simulate the I, IV, V progression from ‘Wild Thing’ made famous by Jimi Hendrix, more distortion to emulate the electric guitar, an extended circular breathing passage that is reminiscent of digideroo playing and of course an extended drum solo overlaid with a bass guitar riff. This was my first composition to explore the idea of getting the saxophonist to do more than one thing at time – sing and play, play notes while beating the keys and play notes and harmonics simultaneously etc. Beat Me has been widely performed around the world and is particularly popular in Germany and the USA. Beat me, Beat me softer, Beat me faster, Beat me harder, Just beat me!

11 Comments

  1. Eliza

    Hey, I was just wondering if you’ve written anything for bari sax? I cant seem to find anything, and I love your work.
    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Barry

      Hi Eliza,

      Not yet, but I have something in the back of my mind, so one day soon.

      regards,

      Barry

      Reply
  2. Jordan

    Hey Barry,
    I was just wondering if you have heard anyone doing this on Alto Sax? I’d really love to work on it for a possible performance/recording next year!! Amazing piece!!

    Reply
    • Barry

      Hi Jordan,

      I haven’t heard it on alto, but I have heard it on baritone and it was great. I’m sure it will sound fine but not as effective as on tenor. Let me know when you have the recording.

      regards, Barry

      Reply
  3. Luce

    Great Piece! I love it. Have you thought about making a bassclarinet version of that piece? That would be cool.

    Reply
    • Barry

      Thanks Luce, Not a version as such, but I am keen to write for the bass clarinet. regards Barry

      Reply
      • Luce

        Ok Great! I’m looking forward to it.

        Reply
  4. Britney Rindom

    Where can I get a copy of this? I am planning a senior recital for next semester, and would LOVE to give this a shot. If someone knows where I get a copy of this ASAP, please let me know 😀 thank you

    Reply
    • Barry

      Hi Britney,

      You can get hold of this here:

      regards,

      Barry

      Reply
  5. Jared Giunta

    Hey,

    I just started working on Beat Me, and it is a sweet piece.

    I really just wanted to say I dig your music as a young composer, and as a young player. I started out on Clarinet, which is still my “Classical” horn, but I concentrate most of my time on Tenor, mainly Jazz. I’m planning on majoring in Music of some type, and the techniques required in your pieces are kicking my butt, but it’s better now than in college. You really have a masterful command of both the Sax and the Clarinet, and your composing successfully combines Jazz and Classical elements…which is really saying something. My dad is a Symphonic conductor and we’ve both been trying to find pieces that aren’t…well crap…that combine Jazz and Classical for along time, and it’s nice to see someone doing it well.

    Thanks for writing sweet pieces,
    Jared Giunta

    P.S. your style of composing-improvising till it sticks- really has helped me write things quicker…it’s a lot easier at the instrument.

    Reply
  6. Jonni

    AMAZING PIECE!!!!

    Reply

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Beat Me Performed by Kang Sheng Liu (Taiwan) | Barry Cockcroft - [...] performance of my composition ‘Beat Me‘ by Taiwanese saxophonist Kang Sheng Liu. Starts at [...]
  2. Beat Me performed by Susanne Riedl-Komppa | Barry Cockcroft - [...] Beat Me [...]
  3. Video: Andrej Lakisov performs Beat Me | Barry Cockcroft - [...] Belurusian saxophonist Andrej Lakisov gives a funky rendition of my composition Beat Me. [...]
  4. Video: Johan van der Linden plays Beat Me+ | Barry Cockcroft - [...] Dutch saxophonist and member of Aurelia Saxophone Quartet plays an improvisation based around my compositions Beat Me. [...]

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