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Performing a Marimba Solo at this year’s Australian Percussion Eisteddfod? Here is some helpful advice.
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Reprinted with kind permission from
Developing your interpretation of the music you play is one of the most important and satisfying aspects of music making. Your interpretation reflects your ideas and feelings about the music. Unfortunately, younger musicians usually concentrate only on understanding the notes and rhythms of a marimba solo. Obviously, this is important, but it’s only fifty percent of the job. Communicating your emotional connection with the music through your interpretation is essential to the “magic” of music. Think about how a certain performance or piece of music has touched you in the past. When you perform you want to connect with an audience in the same way that music connected with you. The following ideas may be helpful as you prepare a piece of music and try to get “beyond the notes and rhythms” to find a starting point for your interpretation. Remember, the goal when playing music is to be expressive while maintaining stylistic considerations. “The simplest things in music are the ones that count. The simplest things are, of course, also the most difficult to achieve and take years of work.” Pablo Casales Style of Music Once you select a marimba solo to perform, it is important to understand the stylistic considerations of the music. If you are preparing a transcription of a Prelude by J.S. Bach and you are unfamiliar with music of the Baroque period, your interpretation may not be convincing. It would be impossible to perform a transcription well without studying and listening to the original version. Whether your selection is an original composition or a transcription, the understanding of the music and composer’s intentions are vital to the success of your performance. Here are some starting points: Learn all you can about the composer of the piece of music you are preparing. Listen to any recordings of the composer’s music and determine which stylistic considerations and expressive elements are important in your solo.
Be aware of these expressive elements when you listen to other instrumentalists perform. Define any unfamiliar musical terms on the manuscript. Phrase Development The integrity of musical phrases, or the grouping of notes, is essential to your interpretation. Listen to how a violinist or French horn player begins and ends a phrase. Slurring is an important tool for musicians to connect notes and develop phrases. Wind/string players and vocalists can easily glide from one note to the next without re-articulating the flowing notes. Unfortunately, keyboard percussion instruments do not have this capability. Slurs can be imitated on the marimba by re-attacking the second note at a softer dynamic to blend into the ring of the first note. Even through marimbists can only imitate a slur at best, it is important to listen carefully to how other instrumentalists utilize the slur. By understanding how a wind player or violinist shapes a phrase with slurring, the marimbist can be more sensitive to the development of phrases on the marimba. Critical listening is necessary for a strong interpretation. As you learn the notes and stickings for the music, mark the beginnings and endings of each musical phrase in pencil on the manuscript. Strive to make the delivery of each phrase crystal clear to the listener. Just playing the right notes and the right rhythms will not be enough to make your playing expressive. A phrase should have musical direction and an ending. Decide on the musical “character” of the phrase. Is it moving forward (building), pulling away (relaxing) or unchanging? Practice singing the phrase the way you want to play it. Make sure to ask yourself, “Is my interpretation of the phrase interesting to me?” If your answer is “no” or “I’m not sure,” then it probably won’t be interesting to the audience either. Use a tape player to regularly record your playing. 5
Use a pencil to mark areas in the music that need attention as you listen to your tape. Dynamics Most performers strive to utilize the composer’s dynamic intentions written on the music. However, there are many “shades” or levels to each of the standard dynamic marking. Rarely does a piece of music keep a static dynamic level even though it looks that way on the page of music. Most solos have an ebb and flow of relative dynamics under a heading such as “forte” or “piano.” It is up to the performer to decide how to incorporate this dynamic motion into an interpretation of each phrase.
Combining the top part of the marimba mallet in one hand versus the normal playing area in the other hand (and other possibilities such as the shaft of the marimba mallets) are other options. Many composers also utilize dry strokes or dead strokes for shorter articulations, where the mallet strikes the bar and remains on the bar to dampen the sound. Different playing areas on the marimba bar (near the nodes, half way to the centre of the bar, and the centre of the bar) also create a variety of timbre choices and articulation shifts.
Focus on the page of music and utilize all of the information the composer has given you regarding dynamics.
• Try different articulations as a means for expressive playing, not just an effect.
Analyse the shape of the phrase and the musical direction of each phrase. If the composer does not offer any suggestions, try a basic application of higher pitches equal louder dynamics (fuller dynamics at phrase peaks). Decide if this fits the direction and style of the music.
Since most composers do not mark these articulation shifts, identify the sections of the music you think are applicable and experiment with different playing areas on the bars, mallets, etc.
Try different approaches to sample different dynamic applications. Once you have become satisfied with your ideas, write them in pencil on the music. Record your interpretation with a tape player and make revisions if necessary.
Test your articulation shifts in a large room or performance hall. These changes will sound different in a big room as compared to the practice room. Record your performance and mark any necessary adjustments on your music.
Consider altering roll speed in rolls for help in musical direction
Recommended Reading and Listening An excellent text on musical interpretation is Casals and the Art of Interpretation by David Blum published by Homes and Meier Publishers, 1977. This short text is a classic work on interpretation and expression. Students of all ages will benefit from Pablo Casals’ ideas as they are demonstrated through a variety of orchestral examples. However, listening to the examples and score study will lead to a broader understanding of musical interpretation. It is important to vary your listening habits with many styles of music. Attend concerts by professional musicians as often as possible. Put yourself in the position to hear “unfamiliar” music played by outstanding musicians whether in concert or on recordings. This could include any solo recital, chamber music, jazz, world music and orchestra concerts. Over time, these experiences with quality music will surface in your own playing.
Articulation Even though the marimba may seem to have limited articulation possibilities, there are many ways to alter the tone and attack of the marimba for expressive content. Mallets are the common choice for articulation shifts on the marimba. Choosing and combining different mallets can offer articulation changes for the listener.
Mark Ford is the coordinator of percussion activities at The University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. A marimba specialist, Ford has premiered several new works for solo marimba and has recorded three CDs, Motion Beyond, Polaris and Athletic Conveyances. Ford regularly presents concerts/clinics around the country and is the Percussive Arts Society Immediate Past President.
Time Percussionists have a tendency to think that rhythm and time is rigid like a grid. Just take out your metronome and set it to sub-divide sixteenth notes to listen to this grid. Non-percussionists such as pianists and violinists do not always think in this manner. Listen to other instrumentalist and focus on how they use time and rhythms to be expressive. Study the music of these performances as you listen to “rubato” and “expressivo” sections of the music. You will find that there are many possible variations of the same rhythm. Analyse your music for opportunities to utilize time (pushing forward, pulling back, accelerando, ritard, etc.). Always consider the style of music when deciding the appropriate ways to use time in your playing. Remember, too much of a good thing can cause the listener to “tune out.”
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Performing a Xylo Solo at this year’s Australian Percussion Eisteddfod? Here is where it all began with the great George Hamilton Green and his brother Joe
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It seems like an intimidating requirement: "Must be able to play George Hamilton Green exercises five and ten without stopping in all major and natural minor keys." This is what would be expected of a music student in "Applied Percussion 119" class, for example, and it is just one reflection of the over-size image Green has in percussion music, specifically the history of the xylophone and vibraphone. The former instrument was one of a group of varied percussion that was added to the classical orchestra in the 19th century, also including tuned bells and glockenspiel. It would not be until Green's recordings in the 1920s that the full potential of these instruments would be realized. Keyboard percussionists ever since have been building on the Green groundwork which includes vintage recordings, a large repertoire of compositions, and several instructional texts that have remained essential. Some vibraphonists taught themselves to play simply by using Green's recordings, among them the great jazzman Red Norvo, after pilfering Green sides from his parents' record collection. Green began playing xylophone at the age 11, having received plenty of encouragement from his band leader father. Within two years the youngster was a soloist in his father's outfit, and upon turning 18 he headed into vaudeville where he made an international reputation for himself as a virtuoso, showstopping xylophonist. His sideman activities included the Happy Six, a group directed by Harry Yerkes with New Orleans musicians Alcide "Yellow" Nuñez on clarinet and Tom Brown on trombone.
Critics went wild with superlatives while the young Green soaked up ample opportunities to work as a soloist, composer, arranger, and sideman. With his brother Joe Green setting up yet another xylophone alongside his, outfits such as the Green Brothers' Xylophone Orchestra and the Green Brothers Novelty Band were born. Optimum Percussion stocks 28 of his great solos as individual sheet music titles plus his Xylophone Rags compilation and his three wonderful instruction books. Green’s “Instruction Course for Xylophone” , “Modern Improvising and Application” text and his “New Elementary Studies for Xylophone and Marimba” still stand out as excellent texts for all levels of player.
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The brothers also performed together in and as the Green Brothers Xylophone Orchestra, the Green Brothers Xylophone Band, and the Green Brothers Marimba Orchestra, not to mention the rarefied Green Brothers Mellorimba Orchestra. Between the two of them several trucks worth of xylophones, marimbas, vibraphone, harpaphones, bells, and chimes were being packed and unpacked at each engagement. By the early '30s, George Hamilton Green had begun publishing a series of solo xylophone compositions including "The Ragtime Robin," "Cross Corners," "Charleston Capers," "Rainbow Ripples," and "Caprice Valsant." A series of six xylophone solos cut for Edison was the first shot in a discography that would eventually include more than 150 sides. Green eventually would leave Edison and move on to recording arrangements with Victor, Columbia, and quite a few other recording outfits. In 1946, Green retired from music, then turned around and sketched a successful career for himself as an artist, illustrator, and cartoonist. One of the best collections of his performances is the set entitled Masters of the Xylophone, released by the appropriately named Xylophonia label and also featuring xylophone gallivanting by brother Joe Green. The Canadian percussion ensemble Nexus released an album in which it exclusively plays the Novelty Music of George Hamilton Green. ~ Eugene Chadbourne (Reprinted - https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/george-hamilton-green-joe/id300165239#fullText 07 07 2016)
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This year Optimum Percussion is proud to provide a beautiful Adams Alpha 5 Octave Marimba for the competitors to perform upon at several events. This instrument is also being used for the performances at the Australian Marimba Competition and The Australian Percussion Eisteddfod and the Australian Percussion Gathering. About the Alpha Adams have used the highest quality of the wood for the production of the Alpha marimba bars. This high quality wood has a higher frequency which has allowed the Adams tuners to perfect the harmonics. Adams re-studied the tuning for every single bar and created a keyboard that has been tested thoroughly by piano tuners, many marimba artists and the Adams team. Robert van Sice after his first recital on the new keyboard said: "Frans, I played a two hour recital last night in Baltimore on one of the keyboards with the new tuning. I really enjoyed it and was inspired by the sound. I have not played that well in 10 years Thanks for all that you do for the marimba!"
Adams is providing a first prize for the Australian Marimba Competition of 2500 Euro. Optimum Percussion would like to thank Adams for their support for Australian Percussion and we hope that playing this beautiful Alpha instrument is inspiring to all.
Design For the beautiful new look design of the Alpha Series, Adams cooperated with the designers of KesselsGranger design studio. It's clear that the result is astonishing beautiful. Steven Kessels and James Granger believe that “the result is an instrument with an unmistakable stance and a line that mirrors the uncompromised flow of music that the instrument produces. It goes without saying that the new Adams Marimba pushes forward the envelope of musical instrument design. This is an instrument that is designed to perfection for the world’s leading artists."
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Introducing Naoto Segawa who will be adjudicating at this year’s Australian Percussion Eisteddfod
Naoto Segawa is a marimbist from Japan who studied with Jonathan Fox (Principal Percussionist, Singapore Symphony Orchestra) at the University of Singapore and with Sumire Yoshihara at the Musashino Academia in Tokyo, Japan. He is the Founder, Marimbist and Manager of the chamber group Ensemble Go and has been a freelance Timpanist at Citi Opera Orchestra, Melbourne, performer in “Composer’s Lab Singapore”, Singapore and a Marimbist in Percussion Ensemble Funcussion, Japan. As well as being a finalist in the Australian Marimba Competition this year, Naoto has won many awards including an Honorable Mention, (YSTCM) Concerto Competition: Marimba Concerto , 3rd Prize, New Graduates Competition, Best Student Prize, Hosokawa Prize, Pearl Percussion Seminar, 3rd Prize in the 6th Romania International Music Competition, Romania, 1st Prize and Special Audience Prize in the 14th KOBE International Music Competition, Audience Prize, Japan International League of Artists (JILA) Music Competition, and the Komori Prize, 18th Pearl Percussion Seminar, Nagano Japan.
i) When and why did you start playing? My older brother used to practice snare drum all the time when I was around 7, so it was his fault... I mean his influence. ii) What music did you last listen to? Steve Reich's "Daniel Variations". An epic piece that makes you cry. iii) What's in your stick bag? Three sets of marimba mallets, triangle beaters, tuning keys, a pair of sticks, and rubber balls. iv) What is your favourite piece or work that you have performed? Andrew Thomas's marimba concerto "Loving Mad Tom". One of the best concertos ever.
v) What's the last video you watched on Youtube? New York Philharmonic: Evening with Danny Kaye. It is hilarious!!
vi) What is your favourite percussion/ drum book? Leigh Howard Stevens: "Method of Movement for Marimba with 590 Exercises". vii) Who was your main instrumental teacher and what was one of the best lessons they gave you? I studied with a Japanese marimbist Kunihiko Komori, and he always taught me how to play "music" not just instruments. viii) A drum or percussion item that you cannot live without? I recently bought a wearable metronome that vibrates instead of click, which freed me from noisy clicking sound!! ix) Musical Idol? I always think Ravel could have written a great marimba piece. Still looking for a shaman who can summon his spirit to compose for me. x) Oddest musical instrument request you've received? One composer came up to me and asked "Is it possible to HEAT and BEND vibraphone's keys to get microtones?" 13
Mik e Ba lter artis t Claire Edwardes will be at the Optimum display area on Fr ida y 22 nd July. C ome a nd mee t her and as k about her new C la ire Edwardes Ser ies mar imba mallets
Internationally acclaimed percussion soloist, chamber musician and artistic director Claire Edwardes, has been described by the press as a ‘sorceress of percussion’ performing with ‘spellbinding intensity’ and ‘graceful virtuosity’. Her award-winning performances combine a theatrical energy with charismatic and original interpretations bringing to life the varied array of music she performs. Graduating as Student of the Year in 1997 from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where Daryl Pratt was her teacher, she went on to win the coveted Symphony Australia Young Performers Award in 1999. She subsequently relocated to the Netherlands to undertake a Masters Degree at the Rotterdam and Amsterdam Conservatories under Richard Jansen, Peter Prommel and Jan Pustjens. Resident there for seven years, she was the recipient of many international awards and prizes including first place at the Tromp Percussion Competition (2000) and Llangollen International Instrumentalist (2001). Claire was the 2005 MCA/Freedman Fellow and she is the two time winner (2007/2012) of the AMC/APRA Art Music Award for Excellence for her contribution to Australian music. In 2014 she was granted a prestigious Australia Council Music Fellowship.
Claire has performed concertos with all of the Australian orchestras as well as numerous European orchestras and has premiered works by an array of composers worldwide such as Harrison Birtwistle, Matthew Hindson, Elena Kats-Chernin and Matthew Shlomowitz. She relishes her collaborations with Bernadette Harvey (piano), Amy Dickson (saxophone), Karin Schaupp (guitar) and Jane Sheldon (voice). She is the artistic director and percussionist of Australia’s foremost new music group, Ensemble Offspring (2011 winner Art Music Award for Best Performance). As such she programs and performs to the highest level, some of the most innovative and cutting-edge music being presented in the world today. Claire’s CD catalogue includes three solo albums with Tall Poppies including ONE, Flash and Coil, The Axe Manual on the Metronome Label and Hush Volume 8. Claire is endorsed by Mike Balter Mallets and Adams Percussion. She teaches percussion at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and currently balances her life as a mother of two young girls with a busy concert schedule in Australia and abroad.
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"Mike Balter marimba mallets are the solid choice for every professional marimba virtuoso!"
Claire Edwardes Series marimba mallets
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Kuniko Kato (percussion) is a guest artist at this year’s Australian Percussion Gathering at Griffith University and will be performing on a 5 Octave Adams Alpha Marimba Kuniko is one of the most gifted and significant percussionists of her generation. Her astonishing virtuosity, exquisite musical insight and expressive yet elegant performance style continues to attract not only audiences, but established conductors and composers too. She is renowned for her flawless technique when playing both keyboard and percussion instruments, which blends seamlessly with her profound musical intelligence. Kuniko studied under the legendary marimba player Keiko Abe at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Japan and advanced her studies under Robert Van Sice at Rotterdam Conservatorium in the Netherlands. She graduated with the highest honour (summa cum laude) as the first percussionist in the institution’s history. Whilst studying, Kuniko continued to develop her professional career, playing various concertos and solo recitals including the Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra by Akira Miyoshi.
Kuniko performs and collaborates with internationally renowned composers, conductors and orchestras including Franco Donatoni, James Wood, Toru Takemitsu, Iannis Xenakis, Seiji Ozawa, Steve Reich and Unsuk Chin. In addition to her solo performances in Asia, Europe and the United States, she has been a member of various orchestras and chamber groups such as the Saito Kinen Orchestra (Japan), Ensemble ICTUS (Belgium) and Ensemble NOMAD (Tokyo, Japan). Kuniko is strongly committed to music education through percussion workshops, master classes and open rehearsals whenever possible in conjunction with her solo recitals. She has been working with children with learning disabilities in Japan since 2004, one example of which includes a series of log drum (slit drum) workshops.
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KUNIKO is a world wide endorser of Adams and Pearl
We look forward to her performances and masterclasses at the Australian Percussion Gathering in just 10 days time.
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Rhtyhm2Recovery
This training is fun and practical. It will teach you a wide range of skills for bringing rhythm based music into your classroom or other setting. It includes practical exercises and games to engage participants in creative improvised music and all the attendant social and emotional development that goes with it. Arthur brings a tremendous enthusiasm to his work and many of his graduates return again and again to learn from him. Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to expand your skills with a master of the art. The classes in Sydney are on now .. The photo below shows just some of the Remo instruments we provided for the event. Registration and further information can be found at www.rhythm2recovery.com
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