Rewarding Journey, A

A Rewarding Journey is a challenging two-mallet recital piece for 3.0 octave (or larger) marimba, cast in three short movements and demanding speed, agility, dynamic control, and intelligent musical phrasing. An attractive, dramatic piece featuring a variety of colorful melodies and ear-grabbing textures (some of which mimic typical four-mallet music), hoping to inspire new percussionists to tackle the marimba and so enrich their own musical journeys.

Program Notes

In 2012, when the marimba builder Doug DeMorrow designed an affordable 3.0 octave student marimba, he made an important contribution to addressing a problem that has plagued me and countless other percussion instructors--the lack of truly useful beginning mallet instruments within the price range of most students and school music programs. Because very little mallet repertoire exists for this and similar instruments, one of my ongoing projects is composing new, idiomatic works to fill this gap.

A Rewarding Journey is a challenging two-mallet recital piece, cast in three movements and demanding speed, agility, dynamic control, and intelligent musical phrasing. I've tried to write an attractive, dramatic piece, hoping to inspire new percussionists to tackle the marimba and so enrich their own musical journeys. I hope you enjoy the work and I look forward to hearing your performance!

Grade Level: 3
Copyright: 2013
Number of Players: 1
Duration: 6:00
Publisher: C. Alan Publications
Category: Solo Works

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Instrumentation

Marimba (3-octave)