Commissioned by Tom Sherwood for the 2011 Modern Snare Drum Competition hosted by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Stop Speaking is a contemporary piece for solo snare drum and digital playback. Two CDs are inluded with the score: a practice disc with rehearsals divided and a performance CD of the entire work to play along with.

Written for snare drum and digital playback, the electronic voice heard is Vicki, from Apple’s Speech Preference Center. Akiho created the playback using a Microsoft Word Document read by Apple’s: Vicki. There is no meter in this piece, which calls on the performer to play many different tempi without having a notated tempo, making it difficult since many passages are the same, just at varying speeds. Another challenge of this piece is the lining up of Vicki’s voice to the snare drum while performing difficult techniques, such as thumb rolls, the use of varying sticks, and finger-playing, on the contrary, some parts require the performer to compliment Vicki’s voice in an accompaniment fashion. This piece demands the player to use orchestral, rudimental, and drum set style playing.