Death Whistle for Solo Piccolo – Nicole Chamberlain

Death Whistle was commissioned by Dr. Elizabeth Robinson. The piccolo is notorious in the orchestra for its incredibly high pitches, and gets a bad rap for intonation issues. It takes a brave soul to consider playing the piccolo and a person of questionable character to love it. The first movement, Ear Knife, spotlights the piccolo’s ability to cut through with its razor sharp high notes. The second movement, Ballistophobia, is the fear of being shot. Every piccoloist knows the joke “How do you tune two piccolos? You shoot one.” The final movement, #PiccolOhMyGod, which is the hashtag used on Twitter by the composer and commissioner when discussing the woes of piccolo playing and composing. Let’s hope everyone makes it out alive after this performance.