This project was funded by the McKnight Foundation and was administered via MacPhail Center for Music through competitive-juried selection. These funds allowed me to pay for the recording engineer, Steve Roehm, and the pianist, Greg Theisen. The funds also allow me to pay for the running of the website for 1 year.
I am thankful to MacPhail for the privilege of spending August 2015 playing vintage marimba music on an a period instrument and recording for the purpose of let's not forget about this stuff! Speaking of recording, we had one 4 hour session in one of the finest concert spaces in Minneapolis, Antonello Hall located at MacPhail Center for Music.
Over my 39 years of teaching I have accumulated a lot of music. Much of it was given to me by older percussionists wanting to lighten up their load, and music stores that no longer wanted to stock the sheet music that wasn't selling or even available anymore. The general consensus seemed to be hey, let's not throw it away, someone might want it. I guess I was that someone! I discovered that I, too, have a hard time throwing things out. I have always enjoyed looking at these pieces with the colorful covers and happy looking xylophone players. I saw that these pieces were often part of a series, and I began to wonder what the other pieces sounded like. They also make me wonder what it was like to be a marimba player when they were written. Did you show up to your marimba teacher and talk shop? Did you discuss the merits of a Leedy or Deagan marimba? What were the best mallets? Did you actually have more time to practice during the week or was that a problem then, too?
I have always felt that there was value to this discarded repertoire, hence my apprehension to give away, and now even more so! I believe that marimba players can benefit a great deal by working with tunes that have melodic integrity, character and history -and doing so with a pianist! There are some really great names attached to this music that I am presenting. William Dorn, Joe Green and Sammy Herman certainly are percussionists we need to remember! George Gershwin, well maybe it's a good idea to play something other than Porgy and Bess and American in Paris xylophone excerpts? Playing the Rhapsody in Blue arrangement, for me, was strangely satisfying. I am wondering what the mind set might be if you play this Rhapsody in Blue arrangement and then you happen to play the bell part in the original orchestra scoring, what might your thoughts be? I have had to play the bell solo passage several times. It's not really very hard, but there are concerns; am I soft enough, are the double stops together, and watch the rubato. In playing the Rhapsody in Blue arrangement on marimba, I found that the similar bell passage was the least of my concerns. I thought of that phrase as being relatively easy in context of some of the other sections of this arrangement. When I get an opportunity to play the real orchestra bell passage again, I might count my blessings that I don't have to play the double stop third passage that occurs in the marimba arrangement just prior to the big finale.
As I worked on this project, yet another point in its favor has shown itself. All of this music fits on a 3 octave instrument, save 7 notes from 2 pieces that are outside of that 3 octave range (F-F). If you have a 3.5 octave instrument you can play those 7 notes. With just a bit of effort we can augment the intermediate level of marimba repertoire 10fold by simply looking at what was out there 50 to 75 years ago. This will fit on your students 3 octave practice marimbas. I played Creston's Concertino for Marimba and Orchestra on my 3.5 Octave Leedy, and it was so gratifying being able to run up and down the entire instrument using every note of the marimba. I do think the next time Creston comes up for me and or my students I will recommend the playing on a 3.5 marimba if possible.
I am thankful to MacPhail for the privilege of spending August 2015 playing vintage marimba music on an a period instrument and recording for the purpose of let's not forget about this stuff! Speaking of recording, we had one 4 hour session in one of the finest concert spaces in Minneapolis, Antonello Hall located at MacPhail Center for Music.
Over my 39 years of teaching I have accumulated a lot of music. Much of it was given to me by older percussionists wanting to lighten up their load, and music stores that no longer wanted to stock the sheet music that wasn't selling or even available anymore. The general consensus seemed to be hey, let's not throw it away, someone might want it. I guess I was that someone! I discovered that I, too, have a hard time throwing things out. I have always enjoyed looking at these pieces with the colorful covers and happy looking xylophone players. I saw that these pieces were often part of a series, and I began to wonder what the other pieces sounded like. They also make me wonder what it was like to be a marimba player when they were written. Did you show up to your marimba teacher and talk shop? Did you discuss the merits of a Leedy or Deagan marimba? What were the best mallets? Did you actually have more time to practice during the week or was that a problem then, too?
I have always felt that there was value to this discarded repertoire, hence my apprehension to give away, and now even more so! I believe that marimba players can benefit a great deal by working with tunes that have melodic integrity, character and history -and doing so with a pianist! There are some really great names attached to this music that I am presenting. William Dorn, Joe Green and Sammy Herman certainly are percussionists we need to remember! George Gershwin, well maybe it's a good idea to play something other than Porgy and Bess and American in Paris xylophone excerpts? Playing the Rhapsody in Blue arrangement, for me, was strangely satisfying. I am wondering what the mind set might be if you play this Rhapsody in Blue arrangement and then you happen to play the bell part in the original orchestra scoring, what might your thoughts be? I have had to play the bell solo passage several times. It's not really very hard, but there are concerns; am I soft enough, are the double stops together, and watch the rubato. In playing the Rhapsody in Blue arrangement on marimba, I found that the similar bell passage was the least of my concerns. I thought of that phrase as being relatively easy in context of some of the other sections of this arrangement. When I get an opportunity to play the real orchestra bell passage again, I might count my blessings that I don't have to play the double stop third passage that occurs in the marimba arrangement just prior to the big finale.
As I worked on this project, yet another point in its favor has shown itself. All of this music fits on a 3 octave instrument, save 7 notes from 2 pieces that are outside of that 3 octave range (F-F). If you have a 3.5 octave instrument you can play those 7 notes. With just a bit of effort we can augment the intermediate level of marimba repertoire 10fold by simply looking at what was out there 50 to 75 years ago. This will fit on your students 3 octave practice marimbas. I played Creston's Concertino for Marimba and Orchestra on my 3.5 Octave Leedy, and it was so gratifying being able to run up and down the entire instrument using every note of the marimba. I do think the next time Creston comes up for me and or my students I will recommend the playing on a 3.5 marimba if possible.