“To the shadow, light” (world premiere)

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One of my goals as a marimbist is to foster the creation of new marimba pieces whenever I can. There have been many great projects on Kickstarter that I have been a part of over the years but I have always wanted to do a commission by myself. For the past two years I have been working on just that. This is the story of the marimba solo “To the shadow, light” by Guillo Espel.

Back in 2009 I attended the Zeltsman Marimba Festival. During one of the listening sessions William Moersch played a marimba solo called “Zamba para escuchar tu silencio” by Guillo Espel. I thought that this was one of the most beautiful marimba solos I have ever heard (similar to the first time I heard “Land” by Takatsugu Muramatsu).

I heard this solo performed live by Angel Frette at the Marimba 2010 International Festival and Conference and knew that I had to find out who the composer was. A quick search led me to Guillo and we begin emailing about the solo, the quartet arrangement, and about his other pieces.

I didn’t have the marimba chops to perform “Zamba” myself, so I asked Jenny Klukken if she wanted to perform it. She has played it a number of times and a wonderful recording was posted on my blog in 2012.

I knew I had found a great composer, and so I asked Guillo if he would be willing to commission a new piece. Even though he is a guitarist, I knew from his previous marimba solo that he knew how to write for the marimba and make it sound beautiful. He agreed, and to my surprise, finished the piece in a couple of months. Both Jenny and I started working on “To the shadow, light” and continued to email with Guillo with updates and questions.

It was late in 2013 when I saw the announcement for ZMF 2014 and I knew that this would be the perfect place for the world premiere. Sometimes you just need a hard deadline to really focus and complete a task.

At the Zeltsman Marimba Festival, I was given invaluable advice by Nanae Mimura, Jack Van Geem, Laurent Warnier, and Nancy Zeltsman. I performed the world premiere at the 5-hour marathon concert on Saturday July 12, 2014 at Memorial Chapel on the Lawrence University campus. The program notes are located here, and the recording is below:

 

I wanted to personally thank all of the ZMF faculty from 2009 and 2014 and especially William Moersch for introducing me to Guillo’s music. Another big thank you to Guillo for taking the time to write a new marimba piece. If anyone is interested in performing “To the shadow, light” please contact me via email –  marimba [at] jeffsass [dot] com.

 

Zeltsman Marimba Festival 2014

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I am thrilled to be returning to ZMF (Zeltsman Marimba Festival) starting this weekend in Appleton, Wisconsin. There are a couple of things to watch for the next couple weeks through this blog, my Twitter feed @jeffsass, and on my Facebook page. It is going to be a steady stream of marimba information and news so sit back and enjoy the ride.

ZMF is a two-week long event where participants from all over the world come together to immerse themselves in all things marimba. The festival includes a number of concerts (some of which are free), and Nancy and the organizers have put together a list of all of the concerts on their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ZeltsmanMarimbaFestival/events

All of the concerts will be fantastic, but I am personally looking forward to the final 5 hour marathon concert where all of the attendees participate in. This is a great opportunity to see what the marimbists “out there” are playing. Whether it is a new piece or a marimba classic, there is always a fresh take and a “hidden gem” to look for. This year, I hope to add to the fun a world premiere of a solo entitled “To the shadow, light” by Guillo Espel. For anyone that is in Appleton, Wisconsin feel free to stop by and enjoy all of the wonderful concerts. Check back during the next two weeks to see what is happening at #ZMF2014.

First Annual Amsterdam Marimba Weekend

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The first annual Amsterdam Marimba Weekend will be help on May 9-11, 2014. The web site for more information is at:

http://www.amsterdammarimbaweekend.nl/

Below is a copy of the information from their Facebook page. Enjoy!

AMSTERDAM MARIMBA WEEKEND
First International Edition
9-10-11 MAY, 2014

There days of master classes, open rehearsals, clinics and final concert-fiesta at Podium Mozaïek on 11 May at 15.30h

Featuring
IVANA BILIC, TATIANA KOLEVA and BOGDAN BACANU

Special guests:
WAVE QUARTET and YOUTH PERCUSSION POOL

Registration, info & tickets:
www.amsterdammarimbaweekend.nl
www.podiummozaiek.nl
www.pustjenspercussion.nl
www.tatianakoleva.com

The Amsterdam Marimba Weekend will be hosted by Pustjens Percussion Products and Tatiana Koleva.

additional links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSagowjDdoI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FLEB5P2r_c#t=23
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIHAzIDgydM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Mn3SDuyBY

AMW is supported by Pustjens Percussion Products, ADAMS, Concorde, Marimba One, GreenPePR, Marimba/Percussion Projects Foundation, NL, IFAA Accountants & Tax Advisers, Amsterdam, Vereniging Nederland – Bulgarije, private donations.

Marco Schirripa Percussive Arts Society Blog and Performances

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I met Marco Schirripa at the Zeltsman Marimba Festival in 2009. On one of the first days, Beverly Johnson held a master class and Marco was the student that performed. He played Merlin by Andrew Thomas, which most marimbists would classify as a cornerstone of modern marimba literature. My jaw literally dropped when I heard his performance. For such a difficult work, he was able to make it look easy and sound fantastic. We became friends at the festival and I have been following his career as he finished his study with Gordon Stout as well as Kevin Bobo. As part of his work at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Marco has been doing a number of blog posts on the Percussive Arts Society web site.

His recent (and final) blog post entitled “Its not about that you can play its about how you play“, talks about how he prepares musically when he practices. If was also great that he specifically mentioned how he prepared for that performance of Merlin at ZMF 2009. I have been working on a new premiere that is quite a bit above my skill level and his insight around not just playing the notes but making musical phrases is a great point that younger students should pay attention to.

I would encourage everyone to read all of his blog posts. I have linked a set of them below:

http://community.pas.org/blogs/marco-schirripa/2014/02/28/its-not-about-that-you-can-play-its-about-how-you-play

http://community.pas.org/blogs/marco-schirripa/2014/02/14/a-few-years-ago-i-would-have-forgotten-to-write-this

http://community.pas.org/blogs/marco-schirripa/2014/01/31/student-professional-or-professional-student

http://community.pas.org/blogs/marco-schirripa/2014/01/15/an-unreasonably-roundabout-explanation-of-how-one-may-achieve-more-coherent-musical-expression

You can also find follow his performances on his YouTube channel where he recently posted the following performance of Sejourne’s “Concerto for Marimba and Strings”:

Congratulations Marco on all that you have accomplished in your career so far and I look forward to hearing more from you in the future!

University of North Texas Keyboard Percussion Symposium June 16-20, 2014

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The University of North Texas Keyboard Percussion Symposium will be held this June 16-20, 2014. The faculty includes:

Christopher Deane – UNT College of Music, Symposium co-director
Brian Zator – Texas A+M University-Commerce, Symposium co-director
Katarzyna Mycka – Poland/Germany
She-e Wu – Northwestern University
Sandi Rennick – Santa Clara Vanguard

This looks like a great group of faculty. For information and the application please head to their website.

If anyone has been to this symposium leave a comment and share your experiences!

Daniel Sailer senior recital at Concordia University St. Paul

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Daniel Sailer held his senior recital on November 24, 2013 at Concordia University St. Paul. He played the following pieces:

“Intro” arr. Dan Sailer

Sonata for Timpani by John Beck

Solo VIII by Joseph Tompkins

Se Termino by Astor Piazzolla

3 Pieces for Percussion by Dan Sailer

  • Wonderful Woods
  • Marvelous Metals
  • Insane ON/OFF the Membrane

Libertango by Eric Sammut

“Outro” by Dan Sailer

I really enjoyed this concert not only for the great marimba playing but because many of these pieces were originals or arrangements done by Dan himself. The “3 Pieces for Percussion” also featured Jay Weiler, Oliver Zimbelman, and Lucas Ulmer. I think  that piece will be a great one for other college ensembles to play (especially if you like the snare drum).

Zeltsman Marimba Festival 2014 This July in Appleton, Wisconsin

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I was thrilled to attend the Zeltsman Marimba Festival in 2009 and be a co-sponsor on the Intermediate Masterworks for Marimba commissions which brought 24 new marimba solos into existance. I am happy to announce that I will be returning this year as a participant to ZMF 2014 this June 29-July 12.

The early registration discount will expire in 3 days (and that saves you $200). If you are thinking of going to ZMF this year, hurry and register now. This year’s faculty include Anders Astrand, Jean Geoffroy, Nanae Mimura, Dane Richeson, Jack Van Geem, Nancy Zeltsman, Jonathan Singer, Mike Truesdell, Laurent Warnier, Xi (Rachel) Zhang, Alejandro Ruiz, and guest presenter Rick Mattingly.

I am also excited to announce that I have commissioned a new marimba solo and will be giving the premiere at ZMF 2014. More details on that piece will be posted to this blog this spring. The composer I am working with is Guillo Espel from Argentina.

For all details and registration information, please head over to http://www.zmf.us. I look forward to hearing who else is attending this year!

2014 Southern California International Marimba Competition

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The 2014 Southern California International Marimba Competition will be held from May 30-June 1st, 2014. The application process is to submit an audio recording via DropBox by March 1, 2014 which is a pretty innovative and easy way to apply.

This year Gordon Stout will be a guest jury member. The other jury members include Naoko Takada, Lynn Vartan, and Nick Terry.

The collegiate category does not require you to be in a college music program. There is also a duo category. It is open to all marimbists, so get practicing and apply! For more information head over to the SCIMC website.

 

Annie Stevens Percussion Master Class at MacPhail

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Dr. Annie Stevens recently came to Minneapolis on October 19 and held a master class for some of the MacPhail students. She is currently the Visiting Assistant Professor of Percussion at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, VA. She is part of the percussion duo Escape Ten and her and Andrea Venet have some very cool marimba duos at their website.

I especially like the new piece called 2+1 by Ivan Trevino. The YouTube video of this duet can be seen below. This piece is interesting in that one player stands behind the natural bars (normal playing position) and the other player stands behind the accidentals. Annie noted in her master class that this was to give schools a new duet to play without having to have 2 marimbas. The player who is on the accidental side of the marimba will now have larger reaches with their right hand and will need to think a little harder.

The master class was standing room only and it was great to see such a nice turnout for an event like this. Thanks to Dr. Stevens for stopping by!

Album für die Jugend duet

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I paired up with Jill Meidinger recently at Faith Lutheran Church on two of the movements from Schumann’s Album für die Jugend (Album For the Young). This particular arrangement by Gerhard Stengert is for marimba duo and is available at Steve Weiss Music. This duo is great in that the audience is likely familiar with the melodies and you can really work together as a team to make it sound great. When you perform this, pay attention to the dynamics and try and make every line have a purpose and you will have success. Thanks Jill for playing it with me! Enjoy!