In Your Eyes

Scored for 12 percussionists and piano, this arrangement of the Peter Gabriel classic is a somewhat darker take on the original, featuring a haunting piano riff, atmospheric keyboard textures, and subtle tributes to Gabriel’s long-time drummer, Manu Katche.

This arrangement of Peter Gabriel’s hit song In Your Eyes was commissioned by the Ashley Ridge High School Percussion Ensemble and premiered at the 2018 Sandy Feldstein National Percussion Festival. In Your Eyes is very dear to me as it is one of the earliest songs that I can remember playing professionally. As an undergraduate student in Orlando, FL, I was lucky enough to play percussion backing up an amazing singer who had an incredibly talented band, one that I had no business being in at my young age. One of my fondest memories playing in that group was the singer’s cover of In Your Eyes that closed her set and how it was always a show stopper!

When approached to arrange this song for the Ashley Ridge High School Percussion Ensemble, I immediately thought of this singer’s cover version and was excited to get to writing it but, with no recording of this version out that I could find, I found myself only able to remember its broad strokes: the key, maybe a piano riff or two. and the general form. So, this percussion ensemble arrangement represents an interesting mix of what I think I remember of this cover version, newly composed material to fill in the gaps in my memory, and some subtle tributes to Manu Katche’s graceful yet powerful drumming on the “Secret World Live” album which I listened to incessantly in my younger years.