COMMENT BELOW your favourite 4.3 octave marimba solo, I'd love to hear from you! And the full list of pieces in this video is in the description above so make sure you check that out! Thanks for watching and for supporting the release of my new piece 'Path' for solo marimba :) #TheStudioFamily
Adam Tan I performed Mexican Dances as my state solo and ensemble piece my sophomore year and I loved it. My favorite that I can think of right now is October night.
Hey Adam, my friend and I are currently searching for a duet to play together. However, we only really have access to 4.3 octave marimbas. Do you know of any duets that are written for 4.3 octaves or that could be modified slightly to be played on two 4.3 octaves? Thanks in advance!
Adam Tan I am a sophomore in high school and I just finished learning how to play frogs however I could use some tips on how to get it performance ready and build my endurance to be able to play all the way through it without feeling burnt out by the end, thank you
Adam, Thanks for including my piece amongst so many great ones. Very humbled to be included with such great company. Keep up the great videos, I watch them often!
I really appreciate how you equate the difficulty to specific high school/college levels. It helps to more accurately gauge the difficulty of the piece without having it in your hands.
My favorite 4.3 piece is "Process of Invention" by Christopher Deane. Though I have never played it, it sounds amazing. There is also a piece i played my last year of high school called "Dream Sequence #2" by Dr. Tracy Thomas; It is one piece in a set of three. There are also shorter and easier classics like "The Clock is Ticking", "Honor Bound", and "Lifting Spirits" (The first 4 mallet song I ever learned how to play). Then there's almost the entire Mark Ford book. So many good songs to choose from! You must have had a hard time just picking ten.
Strive To Be Happy!! I learned it on my own last semester when I was struggling as a player and as a person in finding my sound with a less-than-helpful teacher and it helped me to remember why I play and why I love making music. So glad to see it's here :)
Thank you Adam for doing 4.3 Octave Marimba solos!! Everything is moving towards 5 Octave Marimba but 4.3 is really just as good and I think that is were most of us start. I have to mention as some of my favorites Gitano by Alice Gomez which is 4.3 and also Water and Fire by Donald Skoog which can be adjusted for 4.3 up to 5 Octave. Keep up the fantastic work!!
This is my first year playing Marimba for marching band because we need front ensemble people and your videos are helping me a ton keep up the great work
Lol....I played Frogs my freshmen year in High school...and when you said that is was a very high, high school level to beginning college it made me feel super accomplished...lol...the list is super helpful and amazing Thank you :)
Javier Garza My friend played frogs in 8th grade, he never really perfected it, but it was still impressive. Meanwhile the only solos I've played are Kain and Etude in C major lol.
The very instant that you said "Pop Music Style" I knew you were talking about Trevino. I always get that vibe from his pieces (which isn't a bad thing at all). My students love hearing Trevino pieces, and then seeing that 'Strive' wasn't as complicated as it sounded to them made 4-mallets even more appealing. And we're finally getting another marimba at the school this year which means 4-mallet lessons won't be so difficult to do during class! yay! As usual, love your videos. I definitely need to check out Ghost Garden. That's the only one I'm unfamiliar with. Frogs is unequivocally the GOAT 4.3 piece.
Loved the video! Seeing my comment definitely caught me off guard. My favorite 4.3 solo right now is Rotation 1, but I'll definitely check out some of the pieces in this video. Keep up the great videos!
Oh my gosh thank goodness you posted this. I am trying to find good solos that fit 4.3 marimbas for scholarship audition pieces. Thanks a ton! This will definitely help!
One of my favorite solos is Prelude number 1 in E minor, by ney rosauro. It sounds like something you’d hear in a music box. It’s not SUPER hard, but it will definitely help chops (it has octave crossovers, crazy accels etc). It definitely helped me with double laterals, too
Thanks Adam for the wonderful video and suggestions. I'm now going into my 4th year of high school and I have played "Yellow after the rain" and "etude in c major". I was surprised you didn't put in "October Night". One of my favorite 4.3 marimba solos have to be "rhythm dance".
Thank you for watching Justin! Awesome that you've already played two of the staples :) October Night I already featured in the previous Top 10 but yes Rhythm Dance is good too!
Etude in C Major is fun! I'm currently working on it and it is a little bit deceptive and tricky in some sections, but that Octave E and B perfect 5th section never gets old.
I know it's not a 4.3 octave piece, but I've been thinking about learning First Impressions by Andrew Patzig. Awesome video by the way, I love your content 😊❤️
I’m a current freshman in high school and I’m playing Rotation II, and my teacher actually worked with Eric Sammut and the last note of the solo is actually supposed to be a loud surprise because it has a rooftop accent, but people don’t play it that way because it doesn’t follow the rest of the piece at all. Just an interesting fact.
Yay! Thank you for this video! Even though I only have a 4.3 octave marimba I'm still buying Path! But like I'm broke right now because I bought a car. My dad has his masters in music and he said he loved the piece! He said it's great that you wrote an intermediate piece for the 5 octave. Anyways, love the vid and keep up the good work!
Hahahaha I guess you are now double warned! ;) I think the Yamaha YM-1430 is the best value for the money, many of my friends have it and it is indestructible (kind of)...
I learned strive to be happy when I was a sophomore in high school! It was such a fun piece to learn and I developed as a musician from learning it! My favorite 4.3 marimba solo was 'like a burden too heavy' by Brian Blume! It's technically for a 4.6 but it had the 4.3 substitutions! :)
Awesome video Adam! My favorite 4.3 octave solo would definitely be Strive to be Happy by Trevino. He's definitely been one of my biggest marimba inspirations since I started percussion. It means a lot to me, and his writing in general just speaks to people, the emotion is always present, and his pop-writing appeals to younger players and listeners of classical music, as he is trying make marimba music more mainstream. :) Keep up with the amazing content, and hopefully we'll see more compositions from you! #TheStudioFamily
The Christopher Deane Marimba solos are all 4.3; Three Shells, The Process of Invention, and Etude for a Quiet Hall. Three Shells is one of my favorite pieces for Marimba, period!
Hey Adam, Dream of The Cherry Blossoms while initially being for 5 octave also has a 4.3 reduction that is very similar to the original 5 octave (only differing at 2 short sections in the piece). I played the 5 octave version for college auditions then the 4.3 for my high school recital as my school doesn't have a 5 octave but i absolutely love the piece.
All 3 Christopher Deane solos are my favorites: Etude for a Quiet Hall, The Process of Invention, and my favorite solo across all octaves - Three Shells.
"Butterfly" by Nihls Rohwer is a pretty neat piece that can be played on a 4.3 octave. It's really pretty, allows a lot of musical freedom, fairly technical and not too difficult to play, about top of high school/1st year uni level. Technically, it goes down to a low F, but because that only happens once in the piece and it's off of a F major chord, he wrote in an alternate voicing to play the low A to make it in first inversion instead.
hey, i saw a performance of Polaris on TH-cam, and the guy used low E, F, G notes. so, is it really possible to play Polaris on 4.3 octave, or i misunderstood something?
I'm learning rosauros prelude no.1 along with his concerto. Also, a super easy marimba solo that can sound really beautiful if played with some musicality is mbira song by Alice Gomez :). Three movements for a solo dancer is also a great piece
A freshman at our high school played Frogs and I played a similar difficulty solo. Love Frogs. Sad you didn't put Estudio para Marimba #1 on it but I have bias.
Antonio Lyman’s Of Thoughts and Thinking is a really good piece, it’s very melodic and it’s very personal to the player. Maybe not something you want as a first four mallet piece but I’m having a blast with it!
I did 2 Mexican dances as a sophomore in high school this year, for BUTI auditions, that thing is fun, man! The contrasting elements of the really tonal beginning and the non-tonal (kind of) second page is really cool, it’d be pretty cool if I got in with that.
I adore the big 3 from Christopher Deane. Three Shells, Etude for a Quiet Hall, and The Process of Invention. All are 4.3! (Three Shells is my favorite!)
Hey Adam, Great video! Just wondering if you have heard of Furioso and Valse in D minor by Earl Hatch. I'm in high school and its a challenge! Plus thanks for putting ghost garden in. I'll have to check it out!
Depends on what you're looking for - RS is cheaper and has bigger heads so you get more hardnesses, but LV is smaller head and I think a slightly less 'muffled' sound in my opinion. Price vs versatility, you choose :)
Hey Adam, I know this video is over a year old, but I had a frogs question for you. I’ve decided that I’m going to play frogs as my main 4 mallet marimba audition piece for college this year, but I’m struggling to decide on a mallet set, any advice. Right now I’m thinking 0gravity’s mars mallets, but I’m open to ideas. Thanks, keep on being awesome
Momento by Ivan Trevino melts my heart every time I hear it. Could you make a video on all the different grips on when to use them, how to use them, etc.
Hi Adam, I missed some of the Japanese "classics" in your video but also in the comment section, Time for marimba By Miki, or Mirage by Sueyoshi. Also a more new piece, The source by Ichiyanagi and Tanaka's Two movements among others. From non japanese composers both Maslanka solo pieces Variations on a Lost Love but also My lady White, Stout's Etudes and Astral dance. About your comment about the melody in the left hand in The first mexican dance, I saw Mr. Stout corrected your idea, but there is a very common mistake it happens a lot with Keiko Abe's music also, in pieces like memories of the seashore a lot of people play the left hand with more prominence but the melody is in the repeated notes of the right hand.
Ah yes the Japanese ones are great! I aimed to cover more of the 'easier' works in this top 10 but yes definitely worth mentioning the Japanese classics of the 60s. And I agree about the melody thing, I make that mistake all the time!
Time for Marimba, by Minoru Miki. And an easy solo with brazilian baião feeling is Cantiga de Violeiro, by Luiz D'Anunciação. Greetings from Brazil. Nice videos!
Mbira Song by Alice Gomez & Marilyn Rife is one of my favorites! it’s a simple song and it has a catchy melody that i love so so much lol. i’m just starting to pick up 4 mallet since i’ve started marimba at the beginning of last year, and Mbira Song is on my bucket list! :)
Hey Adam! I'm a Junior and highschool, and I'm really loving your videos! Last year I played Strive to be Happy by Ivan Trevino, and this year I'd like to play a slightly more difficult DUET with a friend in my percussion section. Is there any chance you can do a video like on of these, but for Duets?
Also, I feel like you've mentioned this in another video, but do you have any tips on learning a solo without a board? Obviously listening to recordings and playing rhythms on floor/mapping it out- but just any specific tips/ideas?
This is a good question! For me personally I like to use a piano to play out the melodies so that you can hear what it actually sounds like and get the 'feel' - and since I used to be a pianist this helps me with note learning as well! Otherwise, if you have no access to any instruments then using the time to annotate your score with highlighters to mark out all the patterns would be a good way to speed up the learning when you go back :)
Hi Adam, I have recently discovered your channel and I am loving the videos. I am a young percussionist who has been doing percussion for 5-6 years and I am in an about 100 piece junior orchestra. I was wondering if you play vibraphone and snare drum at all and if there are any mallets, for the vibraphone, and sticks, for the snare drum, that you would recommend for good all-round playing. I love playing tuned and I am thinking about buying my first marimba for both practise and performing, I really want to carry it into a job, are there any marimbas you could suggest or suggest some things to look for in a marimba? Thank you for your time and keep up the amazing videos.
Hey Henry! That is awesome that you play in a 100 piece orchestra! All purpose mallets: Mike Balter 23Rs (as much as I give them flak they are good for people who don't have a huge budget), all purpose sticks: Vic Firth SD1/Cooperman #1. Marimbas to get - a small marimba is best for your first! I think maybe something like the Yamaha YM-1430 4.3 octave is a really good buy and lots of people sell them used too. Indestructible and sounds really good for the price :) Thank you for watching!
my percussion teacher recommended me to learn one of the movements of mexican dances for state s&e, i’m only in 11th grade currently probably going to learn the second movement, those octaves would kill me lol
Gordon Stout's Two Mexican Dances was the piece that glued me to the Marimba for a summer. Not only is it playable on a 4.3 but it only goes to the low C, and my high school only had a 4 octave then so it was perfect. I worked on the piece for most of the school year and ended up focusing my time on the second movement because I liked it more. By the time I got it stage ready, I had no time to circle back to the first movement and ended up only performing the second. Which I was criticized for in the adjudication. Still remains my favorite piece though and it's been about 12 years since I started on it.
COMMENT BELOW your favourite 4.3 octave marimba solo, I'd love to hear from you!
And the full list of pieces in this video is in the description above so make sure you check that out! Thanks for watching and for supporting the release of my new piece 'Path' for solo marimba :) #TheStudioFamily
Adam Tan I performed Mexican Dances as my state solo and ensemble piece my sophomore year and I loved it. My favorite that I can think of right now is October night.
Hey Adam, my friend and I are currently searching for a duet to play together. However, we only really have access to 4.3 octave marimbas. Do you know of any duets that are written for 4.3 octaves or that could be modified slightly to be played on two 4.3 octaves? Thanks in advance!
Adam Tan I am a sophomore in high school and I just finished learning how to play frogs however I could use some tips on how to get it performance ready and build my endurance to be able to play all the way through it without feeling burnt out by the end, thank you
Prelude No. 1 by Ney Rosauro!
Moon
Adam,
Thanks for including my piece amongst so many great ones. Very humbled to be included with such great company.
Keep up the great videos, I watch them often!
Thanks Adam! Couldn't not put your piece on the list :) And I appreciate you watching too!
Thanks for including my piece on your list, Adam! Love all of the videos you are putting out! Cheers ✌🏽
Thank you so much for watching Ivan! I'm always going to be a fan of your stuff :)
I really appreciate how you equate the difficulty to specific high school/college levels. It helps to more accurately gauge the difficulty of the piece without having it in your hands.
I'm glad it's helpful! I wasn't sure if it was super accurate but it's the closest I can think of ahaha
Hey Adam!!! Thank you so much! So so happy you enjoyed Abaca. :) Many hugs from California.
PEYTONNNN thank YOU for being so inspiring! Many hugs to you too 😊
My favorite 4.3 piece is "Process of Invention" by Christopher Deane. Though I have never played it, it sounds amazing. There is also a piece i played my last year of high school called "Dream Sequence #2" by Dr. Tracy Thomas; It is one piece in a set of three. There are also shorter and easier classics like "The Clock is Ticking", "Honor Bound", and "Lifting Spirits" (The first 4 mallet song I ever learned how to play). Then there's almost the entire Mark Ford book. So many good songs to choose from! You must have had a hard time just picking ten.
Process of Invention is awesome! Yes I had a super hard time picking ten of my favourites, I'm glad we have too much and not not enough :)
Process of Invention is still my favorite piece by far! It was so much fun to play, and with so much room for expression. I miss it!
Strive To Be Happy!! I learned it on my own last semester when I was struggling as a player and as a person in finding my sound with a less-than-helpful teacher and it helped me to remember why I play and why I love making music. So glad to see it's here :)
I’m glad you found why you love playing! Also one of my favourites 😁
I'm learning Ghost Garden this year for Solo and Ensemble!! I'm excited I love it!
Ghost Garden is awesome! I'm sure Adam will be happy to hear that you're excited about it :)
Rhythm Song / Paul Smadbeck
My favorites for 4.3 are definitely Variations On Lost Love, October Night, and Strive to Be Happy :) I love these top 10 videos!
I like those three also! Thank you for watching :)
Maybe do a top 10 of duo/duet marimba ensembles 😉
Yesssss I'm compiling as we speak! Thank you for the suggestion :)
Adam Tan escape 10 😍😍😍
Thank you Adam for doing 4.3 Octave Marimba solos!! Everything is moving towards 5 Octave Marimba but 4.3 is really just as good and I think that is were most of us start. I have to mention as some of my favorites Gitano by Alice Gomez which is 4.3 and also Water and Fire by Donald Skoog which can be adjusted for 4.3 up to 5 Octave. Keep up the fantastic work!!
Absolutely, the 4.3 is always slept on! Can't go wrong with some Gomez :)
This is my first year playing Marimba for marching band because we need front ensemble people and your videos are helping me a ton keep up the great work
Thank you so much for watching! I'm glad to help in any way I can :)
Ghost River is one that I really enjoy. It's intermediate in difficulty, but so much fun with a good amount of expression in its music and tone.
Lol....I played Frogs my freshmen year in High school...and when you said that is was a very high, high school level to beginning college it made me feel super accomplished...lol...the list is super helpful and amazing Thank you :)
Frogs is hard man! Good on you for getting it in at high school level :)
Javier Garza My friend played frogs in 8th grade, he never really perfected it, but it was still impressive. Meanwhile the only solos I've played are Kain and Etude in C major lol.
Thank god you added Ghost Garden. I’ve played it before and I totally agree with everything you said. It’s an awesome piece.
The very instant that you said "Pop Music Style" I knew you were talking about Trevino. I always get that vibe from his pieces (which isn't a bad thing at all). My students love hearing Trevino pieces, and then seeing that 'Strive' wasn't as complicated as it sounded to them made 4-mallets even more appealing. And we're finally getting another marimba at the school this year which means 4-mallet lessons won't be so difficult to do during class! yay! As usual, love your videos. I definitely need to check out Ghost Garden. That's the only one I'm unfamiliar with. Frogs is unequivocally the GOAT 4.3 piece.
Yes his music is very approachable! I'm glad you get to do more 4 mallet stuff, and yes Frogs is undeniably the GOAT ;)
Rain Twins? I've never heard that, but I love it!
Hahahaha yes I came up with that name, no one calls it that 😂
Adam Tan Oh yeah - rain twins is a thing now. Trust me. :)
Strive to be happy all the way!
Yesss it's really good!
Loved the video! Seeing my comment definitely caught me off guard. My favorite 4.3 solo right now is Rotation 1, but I'll definitely check out some of the pieces in this video. Keep up the great videos!
Thank you for the suggestion and of course for watching!
Man you hit so many of my favorites! Love this and the other top ten video!! You're the best, thanks for making stuff accessable for us:)
Thanks so much man! I'm glad some of these are your favourites too :)
Oh my gosh thank goodness you posted this. I am trying to find good solos that fit 4.3 marimbas for scholarship audition pieces. Thanks a ton! This will definitely help!
Thank you for watching, I'm glad it helps you and good luck for your auditions :)
One of my favorite solos is Prelude number 1 in E minor, by ney rosauro. It sounds like something you’d hear in a music box. It’s not SUPER hard, but it will definitely help chops (it has octave crossovers, crazy accels etc). It definitely helped me with double laterals, too
Cricket sang and set the sun?
Ahhhh of course!
so good
Yesssssss
probably my favorite solo by far. Marco Schirrpa's "Music for a Child's Adventure" is becoming a close second
Cricket sang is 4.3!?!?!?!? I thought it was five. I'm about to go buy it right now!
I played Rotation 2 and Rotation 4 for my Junior and Senior Recitals. I enjoyed Rotation 4 more. I played Cameleon as well for my Junior Recital.
ive never seen so many marimbists in one spot, im loving this :D
Me too! Thanks for stopping by :)
Kopetzki's 'Three Movements for a Solo Dancer', 4.3 octave marimba and also a wood block. Very challenging and cool solo!!!
Ah I didn't know Kopetzki wrote for 4.3 as well! Thanks for the suggestion :)
I watched white knuckle stroll played with Marimba and Snare and it was amazing!
Oooooh that's an interesting combo, I'd love to hear that!
Love the video!! I have a 4.3 marimba and these pieces are great!
Thanks man! I hope you get to play more awesome rep :)
Thanks Adam for the wonderful video and suggestions. I'm now going into my 4th year of high school and I have played "Yellow after the rain" and "etude in c major". I was surprised you didn't put in "October Night". One of my favorite 4.3 marimba solos have to be "rhythm dance".
Thank you for watching Justin! Awesome that you've already played two of the staples :) October Night I already featured in the previous Top 10 but yes Rhythm Dance is good too!
Etude in C Major is fun! I'm currently working on it and it is a little bit deceptive and tricky in some sections, but that Octave E and B perfect 5th section never gets old.
I know it's not a 4.3 octave piece, but I've been thinking about learning First Impressions by Andrew Patzig. Awesome video by the way, I love your content 😊❤️
kimberlambchop I just finished learning that piece! It's definitely worth the time to learn! It's very musical :)
Thank you so much for watching! The Patzig is super nice, go for it :)
Yes I went to school with him, it's a fantastic solo to learn!
Thanks for the comments guys!
Hey look, Polaris was recorded in my undergrad percussion storage room. What memories!
I’m a current freshman in high school and I’m playing Rotation II, and my teacher actually worked with Eric Sammut and the last note of the solo is actually supposed to be a loud surprise because it has a rooftop accent, but people don’t play it that way because it doesn’t follow the rest of the piece at all. Just an interesting fact.
Yay! Thank you for this video! Even though I only have a 4.3 octave marimba I'm still buying Path! But like I'm broke right now because I bought a car. My dad has his masters in music and he said he loved the piece! He said it's great that you wrote an intermediate piece for the 5 octave. Anyways, love the vid and keep up the good work!
Cars are always important! And thank you so much for getting Path, and much love to your dad for his kind words :)
Adam Tan yeah they are lol! You're welcome!
The second the air horns went off I got a flash flood warning. What is the best cost effective 4.3 octave marimba?
The first sentence was meant to be a joke sorry if it didn't come off right.
Hahahaha I guess you are now double warned! ;) I think the Yamaha YM-1430 is the best value for the money, many of my friends have it and it is indestructible (kind of)...
I learned strive to be happy when I was a sophomore in high school! It was such a fun piece to learn and I developed as a musician from learning it! My favorite 4.3 marimba solo was 'like a burden too heavy' by Brian Blume! It's technically for a 4.6 but it had the 4.3 substitutions! :)
Ah the Blume! Looks like you've already learned quite a decent selection of 4.3 solos :)
Awesome video Adam! My favorite 4.3 octave solo would definitely be Strive to be Happy by Trevino. He's definitely been one of my biggest marimba inspirations since I started percussion. It means a lot to me, and his writing in general just speaks to people, the emotion is always present, and his pop-writing appeals to younger players and listeners of classical music, as he is trying make marimba music more mainstream. :) Keep up with the amazing content, and hopefully we'll see more compositions from you! #TheStudioFamily
He is amazing isn't he! We need more people like him for sure :) Thank you for your support!
The three preludes by Ney Rosauro. One of my favorite mallet books, and the first prelude is my favorite of them.
Ohhh yes they are good!
I'd have to go with Sammut's Rotation #4 or Sejourne's Goodbye. Thx for the great vid!
Rotation 4 is awesome! Thank you for watching :)
Mai Che Rotations 4 is so pretty! My friend is playing that one for uil
I can't seem to find goodbye by Sejourne
Hey Adam I found your channel just recently and decided you'd be my first patreon!
Thank you so much for being a VIP Lio! You're awesome :)
Adam Tan ❤
I love the Astral Dance by Gordon Stout and the Choro Bachiano by Ney Rosauro... Love all your videos Adan. Greetings from Venezuela
Awesome picks man! Thank you for watching :)
The Christopher Deane Marimba solos are all 4.3; Three Shells, The Process of Invention, and Etude for a Quiet Hall. Three Shells is one of my favorite pieces for Marimba, period!
Nills Rohwer's "Butterfly" is a very pretty piece. Intermediate Level. It can be played very expressively with lots of rubato.
You're honestly right about the rain twins. That's basically what everybody was playing at the state uil competition.
Literally though ahahaha, although they are good pieces :)
Adam Tan true
Hey Adam, Dream of The Cherry Blossoms while initially being for 5 octave also has a 4.3 reduction that is very similar to the original 5 octave (only differing at 2 short sections in the piece). I played the 5 octave version for college auditions then the 4.3 for my high school recital as my school doesn't have a 5 octave but i absolutely love the piece.
Ah yes I remember Cherry Blossoms having two versions, awesome that you can switch between the two :)
All 3 Christopher Deane solos are my favorites: Etude for a Quiet Hall, The Process of Invention, and my favorite solo across all octaves - Three Shells.
Oh yessss I do like The Process of Invention :) Good suggestions!
"Butterfly" by Nihls Rohwer is a pretty neat piece that can be played on a 4.3 octave. It's really pretty, allows a lot of musical freedom, fairly technical and not too difficult to play, about top of high school/1st year uni level. Technically, it goes down to a low F, but because that only happens once in the piece and it's off of a F major chord, he wrote in an alternate voicing to play the low A to make it in first inversion instead.
Ooh I'd never heard of this before, thanks for the recommend :)
Thanks for this! Only a 4.3 available in my house during lockdown! marimba spiritual can be done in 4.3.
9:52 Polaris requires a 4.5 octave (lowest note is F2).
Can you make a video about what to focus on when starting 4 mallet marimba?
hey, i saw a performance of Polaris on TH-cam, and the guy used low E, F, G notes. so, is it really possible to play Polaris on 4.3 octave, or i misunderstood something?
I'm learning rosauros prelude no.1 along with his concerto. Also, a super easy marimba solo that can sound really beautiful if played with some musicality is mbira song by Alice Gomez :). Three movements for a solo dancer is also a great piece
All great suggestions! Good luck with Rosauro :)
Adam Tan thanks!
I’m probably going to be restoring an old 4.0 octave marimba. Any pieces for that or easy to rearrange pieces?
does anyone know any marimba solos with weird permutations?
The rain twins and frogs are all considered level 5 pieces for solo and ensemble in my area
Ooooh what's the max level? I'd be surprised to see the rain twins and frogs in the same category though!
Variations on Lost Love!
Yessssss
Love love love your vids😃😃😍
Thanks mannnn you are too kind :)
Hey Adam could u review some Mike Balter mallets preferably the chamber series series.
My next review is a Balter one! (not the chamber series unfortunately but thank you for suggesting :) )
isn't polaris a low F? been a while since I played it
A freshman at our high school played Frogs and I played a similar difficulty solo. Love Frogs. Sad you didn't put Estudio para Marimba #1 on it but I have bias.
Mmmmm I do like Estudio para marimba though! Frogs is the undeniable GOAT though in terms of age and longevity to me ahahaha
Antonio Lyman’s Of Thoughts and Thinking is a really good piece, it’s very melodic and it’s very personal to the player. Maybe not something you want as a first four mallet piece but I’m having a blast with it!
I'm doing Strive to Be Happy and got maybe too excited when you said it
HAHAHA it's a good piece though ;)
I played Ghost Garden my 8th grade year. It was really fun to learn!
Parody by Jesse monkman. It's very hard, very fast, but it also has its slow, calm down and enjoy it moments.
Yessss parody is a classic :)
I feel like Ghanaia is SUPER underrated. Really neat 4.3 octave solo
I did 2 Mexican dances as a sophomore in high school this year, for BUTI auditions, that thing is fun, man! The contrasting elements of the really tonal beginning and the non-tonal (kind of) second page is really cool, it’d be pretty cool if I got in with that.
What is your opinion on Restless by Rich O'Meara
What do you think of Abe's Dream of the Cherry Blossoms? I'm in high school and starting to play it now.
I think it's an excellent solo that everyone should learn at some point! Have fun with it :)
I adore the big 3 from Christopher Deane. Three Shells, Etude for a Quiet Hall, and The Process of Invention. All are 4.3! (Three Shells is my favorite!)
Yesss Deanes stuff is so well known now!
Hey Adam I have a 4.3 marimba but i put a bit of wood beside it and some bars. Now I have a 5 octave! XD
I know people who do that, it's a good idea!
Hey Adam, Great video! Just wondering if you have heard of Furioso and Valse in D minor by Earl Hatch. I'm in high school and its a challenge! Plus thanks for putting ghost garden in. I'll have to check it out!
Yes Furioso and Valse is great! Awesome that you're tackling it :)
adam should i buy the lynn vartan series or the round sound series from marimba one ?
Depends on what you're looking for - RS is cheaper and has bigger heads so you get more hardnesses, but LV is smaller head and I think a slightly less 'muffled' sound in my opinion. Price vs versatility, you choose :)
Hey Adam, I know this video is over a year old, but I had a frogs question for you. I’ve decided that I’m going to play frogs as my main 4 mallet marimba audition piece for college this year, but I’m struggling to decide on a mallet set, any advice. Right now I’m thinking 0gravity’s mars mallets, but I’m open to ideas. Thanks, keep on being awesome
Hey Adam, could you think of doing a video on the top 10 most asked excerpts for auditions, it would be of great help
That's a good one! I should ask Rob Knopper to do it ;)
Dear Adam tan I am beginning to start playing with four mallet what peice should I get for a 4.3 octive marimba
Maybe something like yellow after the rain or rain dance to start with first!
Ok thanks
Momento by Ivan Trevino melts my heart every time I hear it. Could you make a video on all the different grips on when to use them, how to use them, etc.
I'm still thinking of how to make the grips video but thank you for the suggestion :)
Hi Adam, I missed some of the Japanese "classics" in your video but also in the comment section, Time for marimba By Miki, or Mirage by Sueyoshi. Also a more new piece, The source by Ichiyanagi and Tanaka's Two movements among others.
From non japanese composers both Maslanka solo pieces Variations on a Lost Love but also My lady White, Stout's Etudes and Astral dance.
About your comment about the melody in the left hand in The first mexican dance, I saw Mr. Stout corrected your idea, but there is a very common mistake it happens a lot with Keiko Abe's music also, in pieces like memories of the seashore a lot of people play the left hand with more prominence but the melody is in the repeated notes of the right hand.
Ah yes the Japanese ones are great! I aimed to cover more of the 'easier' works in this top 10 but yes definitely worth mentioning the Japanese classics of the 60s. And I agree about the melody thing, I make that mistake all the time!
Thanks adam for marimba solo for 4.3 octave so i know whats up 👍
Any time man! Thank you for watching :)
Time for Marimba, by Minoru Miki. And an easy solo with brazilian baião feeling is Cantiga de Violeiro, by Luiz D'Anunciação. Greetings from Brazil. Nice videos!
Ah yes I know Time, but I'd never come across that brazilian solo before - thank you for recommending!
I learned strive to be happy in eighth grade last year :)
Wow! I wish I could have learned it that early :)
On the hunt for new stuff to practise at home in these days :-)
Mbira Song by Alice Gomez & Marilyn Rife is one of my favorites! it’s a simple song and it has a catchy melody that i love so so much lol. i’m just starting to pick up 4 mallet since i’ve started marimba at the beginning of last year, and Mbira Song is on my bucket list! :)
That's awesome man! Mbira song is great, I did try it a bit in high school :)
Hey Adam! I'm a Junior and highschool, and I'm really loving your videos! Last year I played Strive to be Happy by Ivan Trevino, and this year I'd like to play a slightly more difficult DUET with a friend in my percussion section.
Is there any chance you can do a video like on of these, but for Duets?
Thanks so much for watching! I will consider doing a duets video, I need to research more ;)
Ghost garden was the first marimba solo I ever played!
Wowww what an awesome solo to be starting on :)
Astral Dance....Gordon Stout...has a 4.3 version. Such a hypnotic groove.
Hey Adam, could you do top 10 marimba (or percussion) solo composers?
Also, I feel like you've mentioned this in another video, but do you have any tips on learning a solo without a board? Obviously listening to recordings and playing rhythms on floor/mapping it out- but just any specific tips/ideas?
This is a good question! For me personally I like to use a piano to play out the melodies so that you can hear what it actually sounds like and get the 'feel' - and since I used to be a pianist this helps me with note learning as well! Otherwise, if you have no access to any instruments then using the time to annotate your score with highlighters to mark out all the patterns would be a good way to speed up the learning when you go back :)
I love libertango on marimba (😍😍) but I dont now if its a 4.3 octave solo...
Polaris is a 4.5 octave solo!😤
I knowwwww it's just that some people transcribe it to 4.3 hahaha
Hi Adam, I have recently discovered your channel and I am loving the videos. I am a young percussionist who has been doing percussion for 5-6 years and I am in an about 100 piece junior orchestra. I was wondering if you play vibraphone and snare drum at all and if there are any mallets, for the vibraphone, and sticks, for the snare drum, that you would recommend for good all-round playing. I love playing tuned and I am thinking about buying my first marimba for both practise and performing, I really want to carry it into a job, are there any marimbas you could suggest or suggest some things to look for in a marimba? Thank you for your time and keep up the amazing videos.
Hey Henry! That is awesome that you play in a 100 piece orchestra! All purpose mallets: Mike Balter 23Rs (as much as I give them flak they are good for people who don't have a huge budget), all purpose sticks: Vic Firth SD1/Cooperman #1. Marimbas to get - a small marimba is best for your first! I think maybe something like the Yamaha YM-1430 4.3 octave is a really good buy and lots of people sell them used too. Indestructible and sounds really good for the price :) Thank you for watching!
Adam Tan thanks Adam :)
Yes the rotations!!! YES!
YES!!!!!!!
Is that Felly in the background?
my percussion teacher recommended me to learn one of the movements of mexican dances for state s&e, i’m only in 11th grade currently
probably going to learn the second movement, those octaves would kill me lol
Can u do a top ten 2 mallet marimba solos on a 4 or 3 octave marimba please
Thanks for suggesting! Ooooh I don't know much rep for 4 and/or 3 octave though... I'll think about it :)
Love Two movements for Marimba by Tanaka, my favourite for 4.3!
A cricket sang and set the sun and strive to be happy are my favs
Gordon Stout's Two Mexican Dances was the piece that glued me to the Marimba for a summer. Not only is it playable on a 4.3 but it only goes to the low C, and my high school only had a 4 octave then so it was perfect.
I worked on the piece for most of the school year and ended up focusing my time on the second movement because I liked it more. By the time I got it stage ready, I had no time to circle back to the first movement and ended up only performing the second. Which I was criticized for in the adjudication.
Still remains my favorite piece though and it's been about 12 years since I started on it.
Sometimes it's the pieces that we struggle with that we remember the most! It's still one of my favourites also...
Summer treehouse is a favorite of mine for 4.3!
I like summer treehouse also! Good choice :)
What about Ghanaia?