Wain wrote Seven Steps for Tasmanian percussion ensemble Drumwheel. The governing moods are calmness and intensity, the latter coming to prevail as Seven Steps drives to its dramatic finish. The performers' technical and expressive abilities are tested throughout the journey, as the material ranges from delicate, sustained rolls to bursts of spiky melodic gestures. Opening tenderly with a softy rolled melodic shape, the material gradually evolves to reveal a melodic figure. In the spaciousness of the rolled material, a curious foreground figure is given room to speak. From here, the dynamic and registral range begins to expand, energising the work while the forground figure is recast in various incarnations. The melodic material becomes increasingly gestural and rhythmically adventurous, with all performers simultaneously playing both melody and accompaniment in hocket form. The work then becomes more focussed, accelerating in motoric rhythmic unison until the performers are beating out a flurry of pitches in the uppermost register of their instruments. Calmness returns in the final moments, as we revisit the softy rolled textures that initiated our journey.
The title Seven Steps alludes to the sense of an onward and upward journey of the spirit, and is occasionally inferred by a recurring seven-note rhythmic figure. Based on a melodic shape stated at the beginning, Seven Steps evolves through a series of gestures and episodes that combine in three main sections.
