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| Music & Books : Solo Marimba |
| Title : | Rhythmic Caprice
(View Excerpt)
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| Composer : | Stevens, Leigh |
| Publisher : | KPP |
| Difficulty : | Advanced |
| Price : | $15
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| Description : | Perhaps this is the ultimate virtuostic show piece for a solo marimbist. Seven minutes of rhythmic momentum, colored with three "col legno" (with wood) effects: 1) The birch handle is used on the edge of the bar; 2) The mallet head and the handle are used simultaneously (dubbed a "marimshot" by his students); 3) Clusters with the whole length of both handles (dubbed a "Stevens splash" by his students). The very limited melodic and harmonic materials of the piece evolve rhythmically from simple, to complex to polyrhythmic, to driving, to spasmodic, ultimately returning to a simple rhythm in the six measure codetta. A huge concert-closing climax.
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| Program Notes : | Three unusual “col legno” (with wood) effects are used in the work.
1) The birch handle is used on the edge of the bar instead of the mallet head
2) The mallet head and the handle are used simultaneously (dubbed a “marimshot” by my students)
3) The whole length of both handles are used to produce a “splash/cluster.”
The first section of the piece is all derived from a simple descending modal figure first heard in the right hand after the short introduction. In the middle section the new melodic interest is all in the performer’s left hand, while the right hand accompanies with progressively more complicated tics and splashes. The last section is based on a three-note fragment of the motive from the first section.
The very limited melodic and harmonic materials of the piece rhythmically evolve from simple, to complex, to polyrhythmic to driving, to spasmodic, ultimately returning to simple rhythm in the six-measure codetta.
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