Yes, in 1991 Mitch won a NARAS (Grammy) award in the best New Music/New Classical category. The award was for an instrumental piece composed while he was at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Mitch had been playing around with the Fibonacci number series (yes, playing with mathematical sequences for entertainment is the text-book definition of “geek”), and discovered that when he applied the series as a means to order the 12 musical pitches, the resulting tone row repeated every 24 iterations. This 24-note row supplied the raw materials upon which the music was based. The piece, entitled Prophecy #1: First Glance, was scored for synthesizers (recorded to tape for the live performances) and percussion ensemble (two marimbas, piano, tympani, bass drum, snare drums, various percussion). The UMKC Percussion Ensemble debuted the piece at a new music concert, and a recording of the performance was submitted to NARAS and eventually won the award. Mitch subsequently composed two companion pieces (Prophecy #2: Second Sight, and Prophecy #3: Third Eye) based on the Fibonacci-generated musical materials, and using processed samples and synths. Many of the raw samples for these pieces came from striking pipes and metal and plastic objects in his father’s plumbing shop.
