Program Notes:
My doctoral research includes the construction of a body movement in order to avoid injuries by marimba playing, to expend the marimba repertory by arranging existing music, by commissioning new music and by composing own works. The spring recital will present to you new works for solo or chamber music and the music of Bach on the marimba.
The Prelude of Suite No. 2 consists of two parts, the first of which has a strong recurring theme that is immediately introduced in the beginning. The second part is a scale-based cadenza movement that leads to the final. The subsequent Allemande contains short cadenzas that stray away from this otherwise very strict dance form. Sarabande sounds richer than it is, mixing melody with broken chord to suggest a strong harmonic support. The first Menuette contains demanding chord shifting. The powerful Gigue is probably the most challenging movement. It requires a fluent melodic line on the right hand; the left hand gives the pulse. When both hand meet together will have to bring a light and dance feeling in order to keep a good balance.
After I have written “Café without sugar” the second movement of the work Kaleidoscope, I started to write The cappuccino lovely. I wanted to compose another piece for marimba solo with three movements with three different styles. In the first movement I want to have a jazz feeling to escape from a strict tempo and to bring the listeners an image like having a night walk in New York Street. Following movements have a minimalism structure: you will feel the relaxing sunshine at the beach in front of the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane and in the last movement I handled the French accordion music style which gives the impression walking around the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I grew up with American Starbucks coffee. Therefore, I reflected my preferred tastes like choco, milk and vanilla cream into the music with three different musical styles.
The ”Fusion 4 one” is commissioned by me and the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp. This piece is a mixture of many styles merged into one format. Here you will hear ethno, minimal rock, romantic, pop, jazz, atonal and even a little hip-hop. The 1st movement, “Ethno Prism” is basically built on a pentatonic scale with a touch of minimalist repletion, yet moves from a “rock” to a “romantic” style. The 2nd movement “Classic retro mix” is exactly this- classical looking back (12 tone row) mixed with a choral-like tonal theme. The 3rd movement “Game play” is just having a little bit of musical fun and the game is actually to fusion together the styles of fantasy, hip-hop, popular and jazz.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Memo for composers
- What are the possibilities with the instrument:
The instrument is from 4 octaves, or 4 1/3 octaves or 5 octaves (C2 – C7). The 5 octaves instrument is often used in the university level, the 4 1/3 or 4 octaves are used for the children due to the length and the range of the instrument.
The marimba is tuned in 442 hz, but they can be also tuned in 443 hz or 440 hz.
The instrument can be percussive but also can be lyrical, smooth, warm and powerful instrument
Nowadays, the manufactory makes the marimba adjustable in which is better for the tall persons.
A wide variety of mallets (about a dozen gradations) are available between very hard mallets which in the high range would produce a xylophone-y quality (hard mallets in the lower range produce a very brittle quality and can harm the instrument if played with loudly) — to very soft mallets which bring out the richness of the bass notes (and which don't "speak" at all in the upper range). If you have a certain type of mallet in mind to achieve a special effect or timbre, it's best to simply write out what you're after, with a foot-note if necessary.
A roll (tremolo) can be executed by the two mallets of one hand or the other while the other hand is doing something else. This can be a roll on one note or between two notes encompassing any reachable interval. However, this is difficult to do much beyond mf. It is also difficult to play one-handed rolls for any length of time. Interspersing rolls between the two hands (i.e., alternating strokes) can alleviate the muscle fatigue of continuous one-handed rolls. In general, when you use two fingers (the thumb and the index finger) from each hand on piano and that will probably be the suitable way to write for the instrument.
- What is the difference between xylophone and marimba
In an examination of the process of tuning the marimba, it is relevant to contrast its predominant overtone with that of the xylophone. In the case of the xylophone, the overtone which is most readily perceived and has the most effect on the listener's perception of pitch and timbre is located an octave and a fifth above the fundamental . This corresponds to the third mode of vibration (second overtone) of the bar.
The marimba, however, has its most significant overtone two octaves above the fundamental, at the fourth mode of vibration. Therefore, when tuning the marimba, it is particularly important to ensure that this overtone sounds at the appropriate frequency, or the marimba's characteristic timbre may be lost.
The introduction of a resonator to a system causes a great deal of interference among sound waves. The end result of this is that while the initial intensity of the sound is greater, since two sources are resonating rather than one, the decay is more rapid due to the proximity of the two vibrating elements.
In Neville Fletcher and Thomas Rossing's The Physics of Musical Instruments, also illustrates a principal, presented in the same book, that could account for the widespread misconception that resonators prolong the sound of a vibrating bar. In the graph, we observe the sound pressure levels of the two types of marimbas over time. While A is greater at the outset and remains louder for much of the duration of the experiment, it eventually crosses B's line and is the first of the two to fall silent. However, assume that the dotted line is a threshold of hearing, elevated by background noise or the sounds of a performing ensemble. In this case, the marimba with resonators could seem to have a longer duration of sound, since it hits the threshold after the unresonated marimba.
With this in mind, the tuning process may begin. Essentially, the marimba is tuned in the following manner, as defined in Neville Fletcher and Thomas Rossing's book The Physics of Musical Instruments (page 541):
- An arch is cut, as shown in Example I, so as to leave the bar approximately a semitone above the desired pitch.
- Material is removed from the regions marked A to lower both the fundamental and first overtone. Moving toward the center lowers the fundamental more rapidly; moving toward the ends favors the first overtone.
- If the overtone is tuned and the fundamental is too high, a notch can be cut at B. If the fundamental is too low, material must be removed from the ends of the bar.
- If the fundamental is tuned and the overtone is still high, notches can be cut near the ends of the arch (just beyond point A).
-Music examples:
Reflection on Japanese Children’s Song III – Keiko Abe
Midare – Ton de Leuww
Ripple – Akira Miyoshi
Monovalence I – Shin-ichiro Ikebe
Velocities – Joseph Shwantner
Merlin – Andrew Thomas
Un Chien Dehors – Jean Pierre Drouet
Five Scenes from the snow Country – Hans Werner Henze
Convergence I – Youshihisa Taira
The instrument is from 4 octaves, or 4 1/3 octaves or 5 octaves (C2 – C7). The 5 octaves instrument is often used in the university level, the 4 1/3 or 4 octaves are used for the children due to the length and the range of the instrument.
The marimba is tuned in 442 hz, but they can be also tuned in 443 hz or 440 hz.
The instrument can be percussive but also can be lyrical, smooth, warm and powerful instrument
Nowadays, the manufactory makes the marimba adjustable in which is better for the tall persons.
A wide variety of mallets (about a dozen gradations) are available between very hard mallets which in the high range would produce a xylophone-y quality (hard mallets in the lower range produce a very brittle quality and can harm the instrument if played with loudly) — to very soft mallets which bring out the richness of the bass notes (and which don't "speak" at all in the upper range). If you have a certain type of mallet in mind to achieve a special effect or timbre, it's best to simply write out what you're after, with a foot-note if necessary.
A roll (tremolo) can be executed by the two mallets of one hand or the other while the other hand is doing something else. This can be a roll on one note or between two notes encompassing any reachable interval. However, this is difficult to do much beyond mf. It is also difficult to play one-handed rolls for any length of time. Interspersing rolls between the two hands (i.e., alternating strokes) can alleviate the muscle fatigue of continuous one-handed rolls. In general, when you use two fingers (the thumb and the index finger) from each hand on piano and that will probably be the suitable way to write for the instrument.
- What is the difference between xylophone and marimba
In an examination of the process of tuning the marimba, it is relevant to contrast its predominant overtone with that of the xylophone. In the case of the xylophone, the overtone which is most readily perceived and has the most effect on the listener's perception of pitch and timbre is located an octave and a fifth above the fundamental . This corresponds to the third mode of vibration (second overtone) of the bar.
The marimba, however, has its most significant overtone two octaves above the fundamental, at the fourth mode of vibration. Therefore, when tuning the marimba, it is particularly important to ensure that this overtone sounds at the appropriate frequency, or the marimba's characteristic timbre may be lost.
The introduction of a resonator to a system causes a great deal of interference among sound waves. The end result of this is that while the initial intensity of the sound is greater, since two sources are resonating rather than one, the decay is more rapid due to the proximity of the two vibrating elements.
In Neville Fletcher and Thomas Rossing's The Physics of Musical Instruments, also illustrates a principal, presented in the same book, that could account for the widespread misconception that resonators prolong the sound of a vibrating bar. In the graph, we observe the sound pressure levels of the two types of marimbas over time. While A is greater at the outset and remains louder for much of the duration of the experiment, it eventually crosses B's line and is the first of the two to fall silent. However, assume that the dotted line is a threshold of hearing, elevated by background noise or the sounds of a performing ensemble. In this case, the marimba with resonators could seem to have a longer duration of sound, since it hits the threshold after the unresonated marimba.
With this in mind, the tuning process may begin. Essentially, the marimba is tuned in the following manner, as defined in Neville Fletcher and Thomas Rossing's book The Physics of Musical Instruments (page 541):
- An arch is cut, as shown in Example I, so as to leave the bar approximately a semitone above the desired pitch.
- Material is removed from the regions marked A to lower both the fundamental and first overtone. Moving toward the center lowers the fundamental more rapidly; moving toward the ends favors the first overtone.
- If the overtone is tuned and the fundamental is too high, a notch can be cut at B. If the fundamental is too low, material must be removed from the ends of the bar.
- If the fundamental is tuned and the overtone is still high, notches can be cut near the ends of the arch (just beyond point A).
-Music examples:
Reflection on Japanese Children’s Song III – Keiko Abe
Midare – Ton de Leuww
Ripple – Akira Miyoshi
Monovalence I – Shin-ichiro Ikebe
Velocities – Joseph Shwantner
Merlin – Andrew Thomas
Un Chien Dehors – Jean Pierre Drouet
Five Scenes from the snow Country – Hans Werner Henze
Convergence I – Youshihisa Taira
Thursday, 21 January 2010
A philosophy of Tai Chi at the conference
‘Hiu Liu - Sound Flowing’ is the title of an oncoming deSingel concert by Het Collectief and the Chinese Dragon Ensemble. To provide a theoretical framework to this event, the study group WHAM (study of contemporary and present-day music) of the Antwerp conservatory, is organizing a conference on Chinese music and the link between Western and Eastern (contemporary) music and modes of composition.
Composers Kee Yong Chong, Huang Roo and Annelies Van Parys will elucidate their views on the subject during workshops. Additionally, Chin Cheng Lin, who is preparing a doctorate at the Arts Faculty of the Antwerp Conservatory, will give a talk on ‘Natural Movement in Marimba Playing’, the subject of his thesis. Prof. Dr. Walter Weyns and Prof. Dr. Philippe Verbeeck, both of the University of Antwerp, will provide an insight into the relation between East and West from a socio-cultural and cultural-philosophical point of view. There will equally be masterclasses about Chinese instruments and ways of playing them. • Reflections on Chinese Culture in times of globalization (Prof. Dr. P. Verbeeck)
• A perspective on Chinese music culture : a testimony by composers and musicians (Kee Yong Chong / Huang Roo / Wu Wei)
• Traditional and contemporary concert practice in China (D. Moelants)
• About exotism and the tension between Eastern and Western culture exchange. (Prof. Dr. W. Weyns)
• The philosophy of Tai Chi(Chin Cheng Lin)
the link: http://www.europalia.eu/programme/conferences/colloques-workshops-conferences/article/confluence-between-east-and-west?lang=fr
Composers Kee Yong Chong, Huang Roo and Annelies Van Parys will elucidate their views on the subject during workshops. Additionally, Chin Cheng Lin, who is preparing a doctorate at the Arts Faculty of the Antwerp Conservatory, will give a talk on ‘Natural Movement in Marimba Playing’, the subject of his thesis. Prof. Dr. Walter Weyns and Prof. Dr. Philippe Verbeeck, both of the University of Antwerp, will provide an insight into the relation between East and West from a socio-cultural and cultural-philosophical point of view. There will equally be masterclasses about Chinese instruments and ways of playing them. • Reflections on Chinese Culture in times of globalization (Prof. Dr. P. Verbeeck)
• A perspective on Chinese music culture : a testimony by composers and musicians (Kee Yong Chong / Huang Roo / Wu Wei)
• Traditional and contemporary concert practice in China (D. Moelants)
• About exotism and the tension between Eastern and Western culture exchange. (Prof. Dr. W. Weyns)
• The philosophy of Tai Chi(Chin Cheng Lin)
the link: http://www.europalia.eu/programme/conferences/colloques-workshops-conferences/article/confluence-between-east-and-west?lang=fr
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Marimbaroque I - BWV846-851, 1007, 1010
Marimbaroque I
J.S. Bach BWV 846-851, 1007, 1010
Woensdag 19:30 , 23 september 2009 @Kleine Zaal, de Singel, Antwerpen
Promotor:
Philippe Verbeek - Philsophy
Artistic Co-Promotor
Ludwig Albert - Marimba
Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen Begeleider:
Philippe Verbeek
Alain Craens
Stephan Weytjens
Een concert van Lin Chin Cheng ter gelegenheid van zijn doctoraatsstudie aan de Universiteit Antwerpen, in associatie met de Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen Koninklijk Conservatorium.This concert is related with the research and the doctoral thesis “A study of movements in marimba playing.”
Program:
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV 846
Prelude, Fuga
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV 847
Prelude, Fuga
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV 848
Prelude, Fuga
Cello Suite No.1 in G major, BWV 1007
Prelude. Allemande. Courante. Sarabande, Minuet I, II, Gigue
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV 849
Prelude, Fuga
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV850
Prelude, Fuga
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV851
Prelude, Fuga
Cello Suite No.4 in Es major, BWV 1010
Prelude. Allemande. Courante. Sarabande, Bourree I, II. Gigue
For further performances and information please check:
www.marimbaclassic.blogspot.com or e-mail marimbaclassic@gmail.com
Program Notes:
My doctoral research includes the construction of a body movement in order to avoid injuries by marimba playing, to expend the marimba repertory by arranging existing music, by commissioning new music and by composing own works . Therefore, I have chosen to arrange for marimba solo prestigious works in the western musical history- 24 preludes and fugues from “Das Wohltemperierte Klavier” (The Well-Tempered Clavier). The idea of the arrangements is trying to keep as much as possible the original scores. There are slightly changes in tempo, ornaments, and the harmony is changed in different positions in order to adapt this music for the marimba and its musical technical developed possibilities as a solo concert instrument
The program of the cello suites is in contrast with Das Wohltemperierte Klavier. The cello suites are monophony and the other are polyphony. Both give aside the percussive aspects also a lyrical approach and value to the marimba. The demanding polyphonic structure can be helpful for marimba players to develop a polyphonic thinking way such as phrasing, voicing and polyphonic technique or coordination of both hands. Those arrangements can be used for further research in pedagogic field. Some students may be injured while they practice different kind of demanding techniques such as single strokes in a fast velocity. Therefore, it is very important to realize and to know in which way the body can not be harmed and the technique can be improved at the same time.
Musically, the structural regularities of Das Wohltemperierte Klavier encompass an extraordinarily wide range of styles, more than most pieces in the literature. The Preludes are formally free, although many individual numbers exhibit typical Baroque melodic forms often coupled to an extended free coda. Each fugue is marked with the number of voices, from two to five. Most are three- and four-voiced fugues. The fugues employ a full range of contrapuntal devices (fugal exposition, thematic inversion, stretto, etc), but are generally more compact than Bach's fugues for organ.
The best-known piece is the first prelude of Book I- a simple progression of arpeggiated chords. The technical simplicity made this C Major prelude as one of the most commonly studied piano pieces for students completing their introductory training. This prelude also served as the basis for the Ave Maria of Charles Gounod.
Historically, there was a seven-equal temperament or hepta-equal temperament practice in ancient Chinese tradition. The first person known to have attempted a numerical specification for 12 tone equal temperament is probably Zhu Zaiyu (朱載堉) a prince of the Ming court, who published a theory of the temperament in 1584. It is possible that this idea was spread to Europe by way of trade, which intensified just at the moment when Zhu Zaiyu published his calculations. J. S. Bach wrote Das Wohltemperierte Klavier to demonstrate the musical possibilities of well temperament, where in some keys the consonances are even more degraded than in equal temperament. It is reasonable to believe that when composers and theoreticians of earlier times wrote the moods and "colors" of the keys, they each described the subtly different dissonances made available within a particular tuning method.
Die sechs Suiten für Violoncello solo (The Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello) by Johann Sebastian Bach are acclaimed as some of the greatest works ever written for solo cello. They were most likely composed during the period 1717–1723, when Bach served as a Kapellmeister in Cöthen. The suites contain a great variety of technical devices, a wide range of emotional contents, and some of Bach's most compelling voice interactions and conversations. It is their intimacy, however, that has made the suites amongst Bach's most popular works today, resulting in their different recorded interpretations being fiercely defended by their respective advocates.
The Prelude of Suite No. 1, mainly consisting of arpeggiated chords, is probably the best known movement from the entire set of suites and is regularly heard on television and in films. The second Minuet is one of only four movements in all six suites that does not contain any chords. Most students begin with this suite as it is assumed to be easier to play than the others in terms of the required techniques. Suite No. 4 is one of the most technically demanding since E-flat is an uncomfortable key to intonate on the cello and requires many extended left hand positions. This Prelude primarily consists of a difficult flowing quaver movement that leaves room for a cadenza before returning to its original theme. The very peaceful Sarabande is quite obscure by the stressed second beat, which is the basic characteristic of the 3/4 dance. In this particular Sarabande, almost every first beat contains a chord, whereas the second beat most often doesn't.
The musical approach is based on the audios from Yo Yo Ma, Mstislav Rostropovich, Andras Schiff, Rosalyn Tureck and Glenn Gould.
J.S. Bach BWV 846-851, 1007, 1010
Woensdag 19:30 , 23 september 2009 @Kleine Zaal, de Singel, Antwerpen
Promotor:
Philippe Verbeek - Philsophy
Artistic Co-Promotor
Ludwig Albert - Marimba
Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen Begeleider:
Philippe Verbeek
Alain Craens
Stephan Weytjens
Een concert van Lin Chin Cheng ter gelegenheid van zijn doctoraatsstudie aan de Universiteit Antwerpen, in associatie met de Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen Koninklijk Conservatorium.This concert is related with the research and the doctoral thesis “A study of movements in marimba playing.”
Program:
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV 846
Prelude, Fuga
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV 847
Prelude, Fuga
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV 848
Prelude, Fuga
Cello Suite No.1 in G major, BWV 1007
Prelude. Allemande. Courante. Sarabande, Minuet I, II, Gigue
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV 849
Prelude, Fuga
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV850
Prelude, Fuga
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier BWV851
Prelude, Fuga
Cello Suite No.4 in Es major, BWV 1010
Prelude. Allemande. Courante. Sarabande, Bourree I, II. Gigue
For further performances and information please check:
www.marimbaclassic.blogspot.com or e-mail marimbaclassic@gmail.com
Program Notes:
My doctoral research includes the construction of a body movement in order to avoid injuries by marimba playing, to expend the marimba repertory by arranging existing music, by commissioning new music and by composing own works . Therefore, I have chosen to arrange for marimba solo prestigious works in the western musical history- 24 preludes and fugues from “Das Wohltemperierte Klavier” (The Well-Tempered Clavier). The idea of the arrangements is trying to keep as much as possible the original scores. There are slightly changes in tempo, ornaments, and the harmony is changed in different positions in order to adapt this music for the marimba and its musical technical developed possibilities as a solo concert instrument
The program of the cello suites is in contrast with Das Wohltemperierte Klavier. The cello suites are monophony and the other are polyphony. Both give aside the percussive aspects also a lyrical approach and value to the marimba. The demanding polyphonic structure can be helpful for marimba players to develop a polyphonic thinking way such as phrasing, voicing and polyphonic technique or coordination of both hands. Those arrangements can be used for further research in pedagogic field. Some students may be injured while they practice different kind of demanding techniques such as single strokes in a fast velocity. Therefore, it is very important to realize and to know in which way the body can not be harmed and the technique can be improved at the same time.
Musically, the structural regularities of Das Wohltemperierte Klavier encompass an extraordinarily wide range of styles, more than most pieces in the literature. The Preludes are formally free, although many individual numbers exhibit typical Baroque melodic forms often coupled to an extended free coda. Each fugue is marked with the number of voices, from two to five. Most are three- and four-voiced fugues. The fugues employ a full range of contrapuntal devices (fugal exposition, thematic inversion, stretto, etc), but are generally more compact than Bach's fugues for organ.
The best-known piece is the first prelude of Book I- a simple progression of arpeggiated chords. The technical simplicity made this C Major prelude as one of the most commonly studied piano pieces for students completing their introductory training. This prelude also served as the basis for the Ave Maria of Charles Gounod.
Historically, there was a seven-equal temperament or hepta-equal temperament practice in ancient Chinese tradition. The first person known to have attempted a numerical specification for 12 tone equal temperament is probably Zhu Zaiyu (朱載堉) a prince of the Ming court, who published a theory of the temperament in 1584. It is possible that this idea was spread to Europe by way of trade, which intensified just at the moment when Zhu Zaiyu published his calculations. J. S. Bach wrote Das Wohltemperierte Klavier to demonstrate the musical possibilities of well temperament, where in some keys the consonances are even more degraded than in equal temperament. It is reasonable to believe that when composers and theoreticians of earlier times wrote the moods and "colors" of the keys, they each described the subtly different dissonances made available within a particular tuning method.
Die sechs Suiten für Violoncello solo (The Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello) by Johann Sebastian Bach are acclaimed as some of the greatest works ever written for solo cello. They were most likely composed during the period 1717–1723, when Bach served as a Kapellmeister in Cöthen. The suites contain a great variety of technical devices, a wide range of emotional contents, and some of Bach's most compelling voice interactions and conversations. It is their intimacy, however, that has made the suites amongst Bach's most popular works today, resulting in their different recorded interpretations being fiercely defended by their respective advocates.
The Prelude of Suite No. 1, mainly consisting of arpeggiated chords, is probably the best known movement from the entire set of suites and is regularly heard on television and in films. The second Minuet is one of only four movements in all six suites that does not contain any chords. Most students begin with this suite as it is assumed to be easier to play than the others in terms of the required techniques. Suite No. 4 is one of the most technically demanding since E-flat is an uncomfortable key to intonate on the cello and requires many extended left hand positions. This Prelude primarily consists of a difficult flowing quaver movement that leaves room for a cadenza before returning to its original theme. The very peaceful Sarabande is quite obscure by the stressed second beat, which is the basic characteristic of the 3/4 dance. In this particular Sarabande, almost every first beat contains a chord, whereas the second beat most often doesn't.
The musical approach is based on the audios from Yo Yo Ma, Mstislav Rostropovich, Andras Schiff, Rosalyn Tureck and Glenn Gould.
La Marimba The Conservatorium opens a new era in the marimba history
The Conservatorium opens a new era in the marimba history.
From this academic year 2009-2010, the Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen Royal Conservatorium offers a unique opportunity and a new study program in marimba with international acclaimed marimba virtuoso Mr. Ludwig Albert. The next generations of keyboard percussionists can specialize on this instrument from master degree. It is an extraordinary achievement in the Belgian music education and a significant development in the marimba history.
The marimba is related to various instruments in the traditional music in Africa and South and
The “Marimba Sencilla”, developed from the decedent of African xylophone, has about forty five keys, each with a gourd resonator. It is played by three to five players. According to Dr. Vida Chenoweth, the first chromatic marimba was made by Jose Chaquin and Manuel Lopez. It was presented to the public in
In 1901, the marimba is scheduled for its North American debut in
The first musician that had a great influence on the development of marimba was John Calhoun Deagan (1982-1932) who founded the company producing percussion instruments. Though John was a clarinetist by education in the
In 1910 Deagan produced the first in the world model of marimba that was suitable for solo, ensemble and orchestra performance. As a model he took a chromatic Latin-American marimba and substituted wooden resonators with metal ones. One of the first models of his marimbas, called “namimba”, had inbuilt membranes – mirlitons - in resonators, but later Deagan completely abandoned that idea. Deagan was the first person who claimed that the quality of
However, the real popularization of marimba depended not only on companies producing musical instruments but mostly on marimba performers and composers. They needed to adore this instrument. They began the struggle for the acceptance of marimba on the same level as other musical instruments of “higher art” and the struggle by the percussionists. A lot of time was needed in order to make it happen and spent on adaptation of marimba in a mass music consciousness.
The first step was made by Latin-American entertainment music. Marimba was an integral part of various orchestras and bands. Mainly, they play popular music including arrangements for hit songs. They perform in clubs, restaurants, record their music. A famous jazz musician Red Norvo (1908 – 1999) also started his career in one of such ensembles. It is important to mention that thanks to his works and influence mallet percussion instruments switched from “light” entertainment music to the sphere of intellectual jazz.Unfortunately, all these changes took place within so called “The third layer” of musical culture. When speaking about marimba’s leaving the sphere of mass music and entering the sphere of “the higher art”, it’s worth mentioning that the first effective steps in that direction had been made in the 1930s-50s.
Concerning the level of development of some musical instruments are mainly based on judgments of composer’s works. This is quite true when speaking about classical European culture in which a musician is a performer and a composer in one person. When one speaks about the history of “Western marimba “ he also starts with composers who first wrote for this instrument - P.Creston, D. Miyo , R. Kurka, etc. However, while analyzing the 20th century marimba it will be observed to start with marimba players. They, together with composers, stimulated the interest of musical society in their instrument. They were also initiators of many other marimba compositions.
Extremely important actions, which attracted public attention to marimba, were made by Clair Omar Musser (1901-1998). Creative ideas of this famous American man of art of the 20th century had been various and up to the time. His inexhaustible energy was seen in different spheres of music: playing on a xylophone, vibraphone and marimba, conducting and composing, pedagogy, design of musical instruments, science – from acoustics to cosmos researches, as well as in his own business, social work and others.
First, in 1927, he was known as a designer and a promoter of one of Deagan’s works – so called “marimba-celest”. He was performing arrangements of piano compositions on this experimental musical instrument with symphonic orchestras. But the greatest fame was achieved by Musser, the marimba player and conductor, thanks to his concert projects for a realization of which a great number of marimba ensembles needed to be formed. Initially, it was a group of ten musicians. However, in 1933 Musser gathered a marimba orchestra that consisted of 100 players - “Century of Progress Marimba Orchestra” - for a concert in
The performance was a great success, and Deagan together with Musser decided to start the other projects in order to promote marimba not only in the
During the year 1935, the ensemble has traveled in
The second half of the 20th century was characterized by a breakthrough of percussion instruments to the sphere of concert solo performance. The leading place is occupied by the marimba and its intensive development as a solo concert instrument. During last 30 years several respected schools of concert marimba were established: An impressive cohort of American marimba players that includes famous musicians as Leigh Howard Stevens, Gordon Stout, Michael Burrit and Nancy Zeltsman, the influence of the Japanese school of marimba conducted by Keiko Abe, Michiko Takahashi and other leading performers of the younger generation as Nanae Mimura, Naoko Takada and Momoko Kamiya. European performers joined the constellation of world-famous marimba players, including Nebojsha Jovan Zivkovic (
Two legendary marimbists cross the
There are two legendary marimbists who are very important in the development of the modern classic marimba. Dr. Vida Chenoweth, the first concert marimbist who played in the Carnegie Hall with distinguished success, has premiered many concertos for solo marimba and orchestra. She is not only one of the greatest marimbists, but also lived among the Usarufa tribe in New Guinea...later developed a program in ethnomusicology for the Wheaton Conservatory of Music, based on her own theory of melodic perception and analysis – The marimba of Guatemala, Information on the marimba. Chenoweth was acclaimed by
Ms. Vida Chenoweth, originally from
The marimba was first introduced to
Abe’s virtuoso performance has inspired many composers to write new works for marimba. Fifty-four pieces have been written for her by thirty-two composers between the year 1964and 1986. These new works have great contributed to the development and expansion of marimba literature. She has composed more than seventy pieces for marimba. She has received awarded at the Hall of Fame in the
The marimba ensembles:
Aside of solo performance, the form of the marimba ensemble is known for the original style in the traditional music. In 2006 the Flanders Marimba Ensemble was founded by the Professor Ludwig Albert at the Conservatorium. This first European marimba ensemble has been performed at the international events such as the International Percussion Ensemble Week 2008 (
Besides International Marimba Symphony Orchestra in 1935, the marimba has been focused on solo performances during the year 40s and 90s. Until 1998, the revival of the marimba orchestra culminates in a performance at
Past and the new era:
There are not many universities or conservatories where you can receive a marimba diploma. Most of them offer a special study program such as the Boston Conservatory (U.S.A), the Berkeley College of Music (U.S.A), the Royal College of Music (
Formal marimba students at the Conservatorium are teaching at universities abroad, or have won many prestigious international marimba competitions, established with well-known CD label companies, performed at international festivals and established a career as marimba soloist. We hope that we will be able to enlarge the marimba or percussive keyboard program in bachelor or music academy level. Moreover, with the new facilities and international recognition, the marimba department of Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen Royal Conservatorium is ready to make a master landmark on the new page of the music history.
”Nowadays, when we have some achievements and we are in the middle, it’s difficult to calculate our contribution to the development of marimba, but, who knows, maybe after 50 or 100 years, people will say that this was “the Golden Age.” for marimba” - Lee Howard Stevens
“The marimba has a great potential. No other musical instrument has such a wide spectrum of performing. Percussionists could express music by a simple touching of bars. This allows us, without changes in primary musical emotions, to make new achievements not only in traditional musical folklore but in modern music as well.”- Keiko Abe
“The 21st century will surely be rich in new musical discoveries and development. This will require quality pieces, competitions, concerts and most of all marimbists capable of communicating musical sensations with their listeners. Study programs, designed to allow students to study intensively on the marimba as a principal instrument, will be an important pedagogical requirement to come forward into the nowadays successful development of the marimba , its performers and pedagogues.” – Ludwig Albert
Chin-Cheng Lin
Is a doctoral student in performing arts at the University Antwerp in association with the Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen Royal Conservatorium. This article is related with his research “A study of movements in marimba playing”. The following marimba recital “Marimbaroque I” will be taken placed on 19:00 pm, Wednesday 23 September 2009 at Kleine Zaal, de Single.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)