A Sly Cobra's Bite

for wind ensemble

ca. 8 minutes

*Winner of the 2023 Nu-Mu New Music Festival - Wind Ensemble Category

Program Note

“A Sly Cobra’s Bite” is a work based around the fight or die instinct of king cobras. Having an extreme amount of aggression, speed, and mobility, king cobras are one of the most dangerous reptiles in the world. These reptiles are able to “stand up” and look a full-grown person in the eyes. While king cobras are shy and will avoid humans, their intimidation tactics are unmatched to any other reptile.

While I was at the San Antonio Zoo, I decided to go through the snake exhibit even though I was deathly afraid of snakes. All of the snakes in the exhibit were very tame, most of the time asleep, but when I got to the king cobra, he was fully awake and staring at the glass with an intimidating glare. He stood up to my height and just stared at me. After that, I told my friends, "I'm gonna go look at a furry panda,” and immediately left the exhibit. 

This piece was originally gonna be a fanfare, but as I mapped out the piece more and more, I realized that there was more of a story rather than an opener. “A Sly Cobra’s Bite” takes you through a fight between a cobra and its foe. In the end, the king cobra wins the fight and moves on to its next foe.

“A Sly Cobra’s Bite” starts off very aggressive and rhythmic, representative of the fight between the  king cobra and its foe. The woodwinds are the slither, the brass are the biting jabs, and the percussion are the aggression and speed of the cobra. After this aggressive, fast pace section it moves into a dark brass chorale to represent the king cobra toppling over its foe after the foe is no longer able to fight. Immediately, the piece moves into a section full of larger metallic resonance to represent the venom of the king cobra seeping through the foe. The rhythmic maracas are the hiss of the king cobra while the woodwind trio is representative of the foe realizing his loss in the fight. The “triumphant” section is the king cobra’s victory to the foe, almost like its award ceremony to the fight. At the end, the piece does an ending variation of the beginning to represent the cobra traveling to its next fight.

Let the audience feel the venomous bite of the aggressive king cobra!