Cúigear

Cúigear is a Celtic-flavoured musical joke for five piccolo players, built around a simple idea:

Five players. A title meaning a group of five. And a piece that stubbornly refuses to play in five.

It begins in four, with waves of diffuse sound underneath a ghostly melody. From there it launches into a distinctly crooked jig in 7/8, before taking further excursions through 6/8, 3/8, 2/4 and even ¼. (just to be completist)

Five piccoloists.

Almost every other conventional time signature imaginable.

Just not five.

Quick Details

• Instrumentation: 5 Piccolos

• Style: Contemporary / Celtic-inspired

• Begins with an atmospheric, diffuse soundscape

• Features a jig in 7/8

• Moves through 6/8, 3/8, 2/4 and 1/4

• World premiere: International Flute Seminar Bruges, July 2026

• Premiered by Peter Verhoyen, Sarah Miller, Blaž Snoj, Marianna Busslechner and Gareth McLearnon

• Second performance: 2026 National Flute Association Convention, Portland, Oregon

• Available as Printed Score and PDF Download

An Unexpected Piccolo Interrogation

This piece began, once again, with my dear friend, colleague and inimitable genius of the piccolo - Peter Verhoyen.

I received a WhatsApp message from Peter asking:

“Are you free for a quick call?”

I said yes.

When the call arrived, however, Peter wasn't alone.

There were five piccolo players staring at me through the screen.

It felt rather less like a commission meeting and rather more like an interrogation.

The gist of it was:

We want you to write something for five piccolos, and we're going to record it later in the year.

This came only 12 months after Peter had already persuaded me to write Pick Pic Picc for three piccolos.

Having survived that experience, my immediate thought was that I wasn't entirely sure I had another multiple-piccolo piece in me.

But, as happens irritatingly often when I tell somebody I don't have time or don't have an idea, the creative gears started turning anyway.

Especially when Sarah Miller (also on the call) made the request for something Irish and folky.

And once the idea of five piccoloists met the Irish language, the title presented itself.

Why Cúigear?

Cúigear is the Irish word used for a group of five people.

So for a quintet of five piccoloists, it was rather perfect.

But simply calling a piece for five players “five” wasn't quite enough of a joke.

So I decided that although the entire work would revolve conceptually around the number five...

except the music itself would never actually settle into five beats in a bar.

The opening is in four.

The jig is in seven.

Then six.

Three.

Two.

One.

Anything, apparently, except five.

From Ghostly Atmosphere to a Crooked Jig

The five piccolos create waves of diffuse sound, to begin the piece - over which a ghostly, Celtic air sings alone.

Only later does the music launch into its much more overtly folky personality with a jig.

Except, naturally, it isn't a normal jig.

Rather than settling comfortably into the expected rhythmic pattern, this one arrives in 7/8.

From there the metre continues to shift and contract through 6/8, 3/8, 2/4 and 1/4.

The Irish character is therefore present, but subjected to the same slightly mischievous rhythmic treatment that runs through a lot of my ensemble writing.

Five Piccolos

Writing for five piccolos is, admittedly, a slightly peculiar proposition.

The piccolo is normally the brilliant top edge of a much larger ensemble texture.

Here there is nothing underneath it at all.

Just five of these “shrieking twigs”!

And after Pick Pic Picc, I was very conscious that another multiple-piccolo piece needed to have its own identity rather than simply being “more piccolos behaving badly”.

Cúigear therefore lives in a very different world.

The humour is built into the musical construction itself: the title, the number of performers, the changing metres and the conspicuous absence of five.

Underneath the joke, however, it is still a genuine piece of chamber music with a strong Irish influence and a very particular atmospheric and rhythmic character.

World Premiere

Cúigear received its world premiere at the International Flute Seminar Bruges in July 2026, performed by:

• Peter Verhoyen

• Sarah Miller

• Blaž Snoj

• Marianna Busslechner

• Gareth McLearnon

Sarah is a good friend and colleague of mine as well as Principal Piccolo of the La Monnaie opera orchestra in Brussels, she had already worked with me on a few commissions for solo piccolo in this folky/Irish style - so the work grew out of a group of players with whom there was already a strong personal and musical connection.

The piece received its second performance shortly afterwards at the 2026 National Flute Association Convention in Portland, Oregon, and I’m happy to report that both performances were wonderfully received.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Cúigear mean?
It is the Irish word used for a group of five people, making it particularly appropriate for five piccolo players.

Does the piece use 5/4 or 5/8?
No. Despite the title and the five performers, the music passes through four, seven, six, three, two and one without ever giving five the satisfaction.

Is Cúigear based on a traditional Irish tune?
The work has an Irish and folky character, but its identity comes from its own musical material and its rhythmic play with the idea of five.

Is this another version of Pick Pic Picc?
No. Although both works arose through Peter Verhoyen and both involve an arguably excessive number of piccolos, Cúigear has a very different identity, combining an atmospheric opening, Celtic influence and a structural rhythmic joke.