Preludes in A Major & a minor (solo marimba) – PDF

One of my long term projects is to compose 24 preludes for solo marimba. These preludes are designed to be intermediate concert pieces that fit within the range of a 4.3 octave marimba. Though technically easier than most of my other compositions, these character pieces offer the same level of musical and artistic depth while providing the player a platform to focus on important musical subjects such as tone color control and phrasing.

Prelude in A Major use one of the most common mallet permutations for the marimba, 1-2-3-4-3-2-1. However, it is important for the player to not treat this piece as an exercise, but instead focus on subjects such as the voice leading (melody, bass, middle accompaniment), harmonic progression and phrasing.

~ ca. less than 1 min.

Prelude in a minor is based on a 7 note motif, E-F-G-E-D-C-B, that is presented in the melody. The motif is subsequently inverted and retrograded in its entirety. Underneath that is a bass line that simply descends chromatically from the Bb below middle c to the low A of a 4.3 octave marimba. The challenge of this piece would be to maintain a long legato line on the marimba, and to control a melody that weaves up and down between the top and bottom voices.

~ ca. 3 min.

Pius Cheung

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