Dave Mason - enChant homepage

The choreography has two axes:
   • The vertical plane has three levels above the normal performance area.
      • The levels in the vocal part are labeled with the letters A, B, C.
      • The levels in the percussion parts are labeled with the numbers 1 2, 3 4, 5 6 bezeichnet.
   • The horizontal axis governs the movement of the hands, arms, and body between instruments.

Except for the two tranquillo sections and the ritardandi, the tempo throughout is a variation on ♩ = 144 (♪ = ♪):

♩ = 216 bpm [bars 314-316] is exactly a third faster than ♩ = 144 bpm; that is, a quarter note at ♩ = 216 bpm has the same duration as a quarter note in a quarter-note triplet at ♩ = 144 bpm.

The four elements of Aztec cosmology – earth, water, wind, and fire – have been loosely adopted in enChant.

Earth: The surfaces of the drums, the mallet instruments, and the small wooden instruments represent the ground upon which is "danced".

   • Those instruments should be set up according to the set-up diagram such that the playing of them can be easily seen by the audience.
   • The front music stands should be adjusted as low as practicable so that the audience’s view of the performance is unhindered.
   • The use of the hands and mallets represent ritualistic dance and are oftentimes choreographed.

Water: The metal instruments roughly represent water, especially in quiet passages, and when instruments are played with wire brushes.

Wind: The imaginary drums and the choreography of the mallets represent wind (and dance).

Fire: The pulsating drum rhythms and the loud passages with all instrumentalists represent fire.

Poetry, song, musical instruments, and dance were integral to Aztec rituals. The ti-co drum-rhythm syllables at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of Aztec ritual texts indicated the actual Aztec rhythms to be performed with the text, but those rhythms were not incorporated into enChant, nor were Aztec melodies or music. The English texts are from the composer and were inspired by Aztec sources.

Much of the texts in enChant are spoken (chanted). The notation of left- or right-hand sticking, of the imaginary drums, and of the circular motion of the mallets in numerous passages visually brings the element of dance to enChant and is to be faithfully executed.

The Aztec texts can be pronounced in Spanish (the Spanish missionaries documented the Aztec texts in the sixteenth century).