Author Archives: jeffsass

Momoko Kamiya’s new marimba CD “Pieces of Peace”

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Momoko Kamiya has released her new CD “Pieces of Peace”. You can read more about it at her Facebook announcement page.

I had the privilege of meeting Momoko Kamiya at the Marimba 2010 International Festival and Conference.  She premiered a piece called “Blossoms in the Sunlight” on the opening concert and was part of my previous blog post about the festival.

At minimum everyone should go spend $1 and buy that track right now. It is similar to “Land” and very lyrical and gorgeous. Another favorite is “HATO-OTO” which has a surprisingly jazzy section and is another one of my marimba solo favorites of recent years.

She teams up with Bodgan Bacanu on “Atom Hearts Duo” as well which I will be spending more time listening to this week.

Go support another marimbist and purchase these tracks today!

50th Anniversary PAS Marimba Orchestra

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One of the great things happening at next year’s PASIC is the 50th Anniversary PAS Marimba Orchestra. Gordon Stout will be conducting. There are 50 slots for students to fill this orchestra and you can apply by heading over to this site.

You do have to bring a marimba with you to PASIC to participate. Good luck to everyone and I hope you pass the audition and are accepted!

Carol of the Bells arranged by Nathan Daughtrey

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My work schedule has kept me pretty busy this year so the holiday break allowed me to return to the marimba. Last week I performed “Carol of the Bells” arranged by Nathan Daughtrey.

This arrangement can be purchased as part of the Yuletide Marimba book from C. Alan Publications. The recording is available here on iTunes. I highly recommend adding the book and recordings to your marimba collection!

Over the next few years I will continue to perform them as they work very nicely in a church setting.

Below is a link to an excerpt of the performance. I hope you enjoy it!

Carol Of The Bells – Marimba

Zeltsman Marimba Festival 2011 Announced

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Nancy Zeltsman has announced that the 2011 Zeltsman Marimba Festival (ZMF) will take place at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin from June 26th to July 9th.

This year’s faculty includes: Nanae Mimura, Fumito Nunoya, Christos Rafalides, Dane Richeson, Jack Van Geem, Nancy Zeltsman.

For more information including registration materials, please visit http://www.zmf.us

Birthday of A King/O Holy Night for Marimba and Piano

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On December 26th at Faith Lutheran Church my wife Heidi and I performed an arrangement of “Birthday of a King” and “O Holy Night”. Heidi had arranged this for piano and voice originally and we decided to perform it together this time with marimba and piano.

One of the members said of this performance “I am glad your marriage survived the key change”.

I hope you enjoy it.

Birthday Of A King – O Holy Night

John Serry “Groundlines” video posted on Vic Firth Website

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The John Serry commissioning project that I was a part of has completed and the performance was at PASIC 2010. A video of one part of the piece is now up at the Vic Firth website.Ji Hye Jung is performing it in the middle of a larger video containing PASIC highlights.

Start here and then click on “Concert / Marching Highlights”. It is about 1/4 of the way into the video and labeled clearly.

Gordon Stout makes a huge announcement at PASIC 2010

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Gordon Stout was interviewed by the DrumChattr crew as he was attending this years PASIC.

While answering one of the questions that I submitted for the interview he had a very timely announcement about next year’s PASIC.

The Marimba Orchestra will return to PASIC 2011. Gordon Stout will be conducting the group and also writing a brand new piece for the event! It will be a 50 minute concert comprised of both college students and “pros” performing together. I cannot wait to hear more information about this event.

The other question I asked was about whether or not Gordon will write a book about his marimba experiences. He has already written Ideo Kinetics A Workbook for Marimba Technique but I feel like something between an autobiography and a North American marimba history would be a success. Something similar to Rebecca Kite’s book “Keiko Abe-A Virtuosic Life: Her Musical Career and the Evolution of the Concert Marimba“.

Note to all of the readers: If you collaborate over at DrumChattr you can have your questions answered by the guests on the podcast.

To listen to the entire podcast, go to iTunes and search for DrumChattr or go directly to this link on their site.