Percussion Axiom TV focuses on John Serry’s “Night Rhapsody”

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Percussion Axiom TV, for the next few episodes, is focusing on John Serry’s “Night Rhapsody”. This is one of the most challenging and maybe the most misunderstood marimba pieces in the standard repertoire.

I am a big fan of this series and participated in past episodes where I played Gordon Stout’s Etude #3. For this series I will be following along “from afar” as the technical chops required to play this are beyond what I can handle and I just cannot bring myself to purchase it. I saw Leigh Howard Stevens perform this piece in Wisconsin a number of years ago and I was simply in awe at the discipline it takes to perform it.

Join the discussion over at DrumChattr by starting with the first episode at:

http://drumchattr.com/percussion-axiom-tv-episode-82-serrys-night-rhapsody-part-i/

Marimba One launches new website

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Marimba One has launched a new website focused on sound. The new site shows the differences between the resonators and also now links to video clips of the sound of the different mallets that Marimba One makes.

I hope to see in the future video examples of the sound of the different keyboard voicing choices (how is the sound different between Premium, Enhanced, Traditional, and Educational) as well.

I always love the artist quotes on the site, but the recent one by Danny Elfman is great:

“All roads led to Ron Samuels and marimba one. We talked about what my needs and expectations were and he went and built me an instrument that exceeded all my expectations. It’s a thing of beauty, both sonically and visually. I’ve already used it in my latest score. It plays and records wonderfully. Thank you marimba one.”

Danny Elfman, Composer, Musician

Compose. Perform. Inspire. New Voices in Percussion Music

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There is a great project underway at Kickstarter called “Compose. Perform. Inspire. New Voices in Percussion Music.” Kickstarter is a program that attempts to get funding for a project, in this case new percussion compositions, and only if the minimum funds are pledged does the project happen.

This one is started by the Evolution Percussion Duo and has four great composers: Casey Cangelosi, Dave Hall, Baljinder Sekhon, and David Skidmore writing compositions.

Jake and Maria have more information at the Kistarter site. They are within $600 of their goal with 7 days left to meet it. Please join me by donating so the whole percussion community receives some new compositions.