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10 Etudes for Marimba & Four Hands
Level: Medium
Duration: various
Personnel: 2 players
State Lists: Florida
Release Date: 2020
Product ID : TSPB-47
Description
Zach Koors’ collection of pieces, 10 Etudes for Marimba & Four Hands, features pieces with a wide range of musical material designed to challenge intermediate students while simultaneously captivating their interest. Their skill levels range from medium-easy to medium-advanced and their musical characteristics range from upbeat and catchy to slow and somber.
All ten of these etudes fit on a 4.3-octave (low A) marimba, and they are written so they can be played by both players on the same instrument. Each part only requires 2 mallets of each player.
Teachers can also play these etudes alongside their students and switch parts, if desired. Although the pieces were written for marimba, Koors invites the performers to be creative and experiment with some of them on vibraphone and marimba or other combinations of mallet instruments.
10 Etudes for Marimba & Four Hands ships as a fully-bound book and includes recordings of each etude as well as individual PDF parts for printing or tablet viewing. If both players wish to read from a score, a PDF of the score is also included for the second player.
Listing of Etudes:
• ONE | Med-Easy | 2:15
• TWO | Med-Easy | 3:25
• THREE | Medium | 2:40
• FOUR | Medium | 2:40
• FIVE | Medium | 2:45
• SIX | Med-Advanced | 2:50
• SEVEN | Med-Advanced | 2:35
• EIGHT | Med-Advanced | 1:50
• NINE | Med-Advanced | 3:00
• TEN | Med-Advanced | 1:50
Instrumentation
• Marimba (4.3-octave, low A)*
*All 10 etudes are performed with both players sharing one marimba.
Reviews
10 Etudes for Marimba & Four Hands is an incredibly well written collection of ten medium-level marimba duets, which allow for music making on one instrument. In the Foreword, the composer states that the idea came from his own teaching, often attempting to find material that he and his student can play together on the same instrument. The challenge to find engaging material for this medium led to the creation of this book. In the spirit of the student playing on the top end of the instrument and the teacher on the bottom end, the primo parts are, in some cases, slightly less difficult than the secondo parts.
The combination of players does not necessarily have to be a student and teacher. And according to Zach Koors, these duets do not have to be played on a shared marimba. He suggests trying vibes and marimba or other combinations of mallet instruments. It is also possible to follow the natural progression of the book or pick and choose various duets as recital pieces.
The ten pieces, titled “One,” “Two,” “Three,” etc., are each within 2–3 minutes in length. However, they are filled with skill builders for musical, technical, and ensemble playing. Finally, the pieces are accessible and engaging, which is what the composer set out to do.
This book fills a need and does it incredibly well. The book is very versatile and allows for re- peat performances with varied instrumentation or personnel. I’m looking forward to trying some of these with my students soon!
—Justin Bunting
Percussive Notes
Vol. 59, No. 1, February 2021
Description
Zach Koors’ collection of pieces, 10 Etudes for Marimba & Four Hands, features pieces with a wide range of musical material designed to challenge intermediate students while simultaneously captivating their interest. Their skill levels range from medium-easy to medium-advanced and their musical characteristics range from upbeat and catchy to slow and somber.
All ten of these etudes fit on a 4.3-octave (low A) marimba, and they are written so they can be played by both players on the same instrument. Each part only requires 2 mallets of each player.
Teachers can also play these etudes alongside their students and switch parts, if desired. Although the pieces were written for marimba, Koors invites the performers to be creative and experiment with some of them on vibraphone and marimba or other combinations of mallet instruments.
10 Etudes for Marimba & Four Hands ships as a fully-bound book and includes recordings of each etude as well as individual PDF parts for printing or tablet viewing. If both players wish to read from a score, a PDF of the score is also included for the second player.
Listing of Etudes:
• ONE | Med-Easy | 2:15
• TWO | Med-Easy | 3:25
• THREE | Medium | 2:40
• FOUR | Medium | 2:40
• FIVE | Medium | 2:45
• SIX | Med-Advanced | 2:50
• SEVEN | Med-Advanced | 2:35
• EIGHT | Med-Advanced | 1:50
• NINE | Med-Advanced | 3:00
• TEN | Med-Advanced | 1:50
Instrumentation
• Marimba (4.3-octave, low A)*
*All 10 etudes are performed with both players sharing one marimba.
Reviews
10 Etudes for Marimba & Four Hands is an incredibly well written collection of ten medium-level marimba duets, which allow for music making on one instrument. In the Foreword, the composer states that the idea came from his own teaching, often attempting to find material that he and his student can play together on the same instrument. The challenge to find engaging material for this medium led to the creation of this book. In the spirit of the student playing on the top end of the instrument and the teacher on the bottom end, the primo parts are, in some cases, slightly less difficult than the secondo parts.
The combination of players does not necessarily have to be a student and teacher. And according to Zach Koors, these duets do not have to be played on a shared marimba. He suggests trying vibes and marimba or other combinations of mallet instruments. It is also possible to follow the natural progression of the book or pick and choose various duets as recital pieces.
The ten pieces, titled “One,” “Two,” “Three,” etc., are each within 2–3 minutes in length. However, they are filled with skill builders for musical, technical, and ensemble playing. Finally, the pieces are accessible and engaging, which is what the composer set out to do.
This book fills a need and does it incredibly well. The book is very versatile and allows for re- peat performances with varied instrumentation or personnel. I’m looking forward to trying some of these with my students soon!
—Justin Bunting
Percussive Notes
Vol. 59, No. 1, February 2021
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