I had a chance to have a chat with Nathan Daughtrey, Director of Operations of the Classical Marimba League, when here was here in Minnesota. This wasn’t a formal interview but I thought I would share the marimba related items we talked about.
The Classical Marimba League started about 3 years ago and was initially led by Mr. Dunnington. The marimba competition accepted CD submissions of the marimba performances this year. In future years, Nathan would like to require video submissions.
The three winners all flew into Minnesota to perform (one from Taiwan, the other two are persuing degrees here in the US). In the future Nathan would like to tie the competition concert into other events possibly including other Days of Percussion or PASIC.
Nathan has composed many works for percussion, I asked him about “The Yuletide Marimbist” which is a book of Christmas pieces arranged for marimba. A CD is also available for purchase. Nathan stated that he started these pieces as a intermediate level but the compositions ended up being a bit more advanced than that when they were finished.
I also asked Nathan about the Vic Firth Concert Podcast since that is one of my favorite marimba destinations on the Internet. He said the he is thrilled to contribute to that project and that this is a great way to provide free access to percussion literature performed at a high level instead of just a video camera of someone in their practice room. I couldn’t agree more and hope that this website continues to deliver high quality videos of percussion performances.
I realized I was taking pictures as part of the event but forgot to take one with Nathan. If you are interested, head over to Facebook and become a fan of the Classical Marimba League to see some photos.
As noted in my first post about Percussion Axiom TV #29 we are working on the Gordon Stout Etude #3 measures 15-37. As I worked a few more hours with this middle section I noticed I was playing a few wrong notes by expecting the end of measure 18, 21, 23 and 25 to end on the same octave D. But each measure is different so play attention when playing this part.
I also noticed when I watched the recording of myself that even after my pause around measure 33, I still wasn’t playing the correct notes. I have to remember that while practicing, it is more important to watch the music and learn the notes correctly than trying to play through it at a faster tempo.
My playing is posted below to see a mostly right performance of the longer middle section of the piece. I am excited that there are only about 8 measures of new material left. Then I will have to really start working on my evil plot to ensure the next marimba piece we learn together is tonal. Yes, Dr. Burritt I am talking to you!
Blogging, Twitter, Tumblr, and personal web sites are great tools to use in the digital age to communicate your thoughts about marimbas. Sometimes you also just need to use “old school” communication methods like writing an article for the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) chapter newsletter.
This organization is divided into chapters and the Minnesota chapter hosts a yearly “Day of Percussion” which is a fantastic opportunity to network with other percussionists. Back in March 2002, I wrote an article for the chapter newletter which summarized that year’s Day of Percussion. My article is on page 4.
What makes PAS strong is the contribution of its members. So get out there and write an article for your local chapter!
The Colorado Chorale, as part of their 39th season, is performing the Misa Tariro Marimba Mass of Hope by Kutandara leader Michael McIntosh. This work is inspired by Zimbabwean community worship ceremonies will be performed on March 22, 2009.
Full of energy and excitement it sounds pretty cool! The movements with marimbas specifically are 1, 2, 3, and 5. My favorite is movement 2 - Gloria. The deep resonant lowest octave is wonderfully recorded and blended with the choir! This also fits my personal definition of being audience accessible.
If you don’t live in the Boulder area, you can listen to their rehearsal MP3’s below.
Coming to a PBS station near you later this year, is Conspirare’s Company of Voices concert. This is certainly one not to miss! Conspirare is a nationally recognized and Grammy nominated chorus that resides in Texas. What is interesting about this concert, is that many of the pieces are paired with percussion ensemble. Yes, percussion ensemble and choir.
That is pretty exciting by itself, but even more exciting is the amount of mallet instruments that are used. From the looks of things at least 2 marimbas, 2 vibraphones, and a glockenspiel were used. I also saw drumset, crotales, steel drums, triangle and other auxilliary percussion instruments.
And if that wasn’t exciting enough, the director of the percussion ensemble, Thomas Burritt joins in on the playing and also did the orchestrations for one of the pieces.
But wait, there is even more excitement! Craig Hella Johnson is a native of Minnesota, where I currently live, and went to St. Olfa College. He was quoted in one of the interviews as saying “I went to St. Olaf which was a big choral school, …, I saw the Minnesota Orchestra and I was blown away”. Oh and BTW went to University of Illinois and Julliard and Yale and Germany, etc.
To listen to Tryptych online before the PBS special, head over here, or watch the embedded video as part of this post.
Thomas Burritt has a wonderful web site that includes a weekly podcast called Percussion Axiom. Each week he discusses an aspect of the percussion happenings and many of them are focused on the marimba.
I first saw Tom at PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Convention) in 2000 where he participated in the New Music Day for Marimba. A copy of that program is available as a PDF. Since this was my first PASIC I didn’t introduce myself to too many people as I was still in awe at the sheer talent and magnitude of the percussion event. I will post more about PASIC in a future entry.
One of the very cool things in a recent episode of Percussion Axiom TV, was Tom’s suggestion to learn a marimba piece together as an online community. When I heard about this I was thrilled and scared! I wasn’t a music major in college (most of my friend’s were) so I didn’t spent 6 hours in the practice room. However, I do own a 5-octave MarimbaOne and I am as highly motivated as someone can be about a percussion instrument!
There was an online vote as to which piece to play and we started 2 weeks ago. As I started working on the piece, I noticed that I had more to say than what could be said in a comment on Tom’s web site or via Twitter, so I decided it was time to make a marimba blog.
I bought www.jeffsass.com years ago because it was available so now is a great time to use it. So here we are! I am a marimbist with a blog and I am going to use it to better the percussion community and help foster a discussion about not only the piece we are learning together but any marimba topic in general.
Hi everyone - welcome to my marimba blog. The purpose of this blog is to talk about anything related to the marimba and the never ending pursuit of creating fantastic musical experiences on a non-standard instrument.
For my initial post instead of a long-winded introduction and background of who I am and why I am doing this I am instead going to jump right in to the matter at hand. So join the conversation and head over to my second post.
Yes, Dr. Burritt I am talking to you!
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