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Denver composer Nathan Hall\u2019s<\/u><\/a> new album of percussion music focuses on some unique instruments: They\u2019re hand-carved from stone and date back several millennia.<\/p>\n Lithophones<\/u><\/a> are polished, resonant rocks shaped like baguettes. Archaeologists say that Indigenous people used the stones<\/u><\/a> somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 years ago near what\u2019s now Great Sand Dunes National Park.<\/p>\n Nathan wrote a series of pieces to be performed on the stones and recorded the music with a Colorado group called Perc Ens. The resulting album, called Gentle Worship<\/u><\/i><\/a>, is out now.<\/p>\n Nathan talked with In The NoCo\u2019s Erin O\u2019Toole about collaborating with Marilyn Martorano, the Colorado archaeologist who studied the lithophones. The music he wrote combines the ancient stone instruments\u2019 sounds with modern instruments like woodblocks and timpani.<\/p>\n