Meet Again

Item details

Description +
- Duration: 5 min.
  
  Meet Again is a 5.0 octave marimba duo based around a simple, wistful melody that gets expands and contracts between two players to form a texture of unified marimba sound.
  
  The title derives itself from the central theme of 'reunion'; the feeling of being with someone, distancing for a period of time before eventually returning back to that person and 'meeting again'.
  
  This is reflected in the themes of Meet Again, which repeat, embellish themselves, before changing key in its final form to conclude with both players playing a single chord together.
  
  The Chinese title of Meet Again is (Mandarin: zài jiàn, Cantonese: zoi gin), which is usually used in conversation to mean 'goodbye'. However, on its own means 'again', and on its own 'to meet'.
Instrumentation +
- Marimba duo (5.0 octave)
About the composer +
- Adam Tan is a marimba soloist, educator and composer based in Perth, Western Australia. Adam is most known for being a YouTube content creator on THE STUDIO, a self-produced YouTube show uploading weekly episodes for education and entertainment relating to percussion.
  
  Adam has performed and presented in-person in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and the United States, and has also presented online classes in Argentina, Central America and the United Kingdom. Highlights include solo performances at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC), inc. percussion days (Japan), PAS Hong Kong Days of Percussion and Oh! Asian Percussionists Series (Hong Kong), Malaysia Percussion Festival, Chosen Vale Percussion Seminar (USA), Australian Percussion Gathering and masterclass presentations at the 505A Percussion Gathering (Hong Kong), MalletLab Summer Intensive (USA), WA Day of Percussion (Australia) and various universities and schools across Taiwan.
  
  As a composer, Adam's works for percussion are performed regularly as they appear in repertoire lists for auditions, examinations and competitions around the world, such as the UIL Texas Prescribed Music List (PML). Adam’s works can be listened to on all music streaming platforms and stores.
  
  Adam is the founder and director of Marimbafest Australia, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of percussive arts in Australia, curating various events including the annual marimba festival and competition Marimbafest, as well as the annual concert series Percussion All-Stars.
  
  Adam has a Master of Music (Research, Percussion) and Bachelor of Music (1st Class Hons) from the University of Western Australia Conservatorium of Music.
  
  Adam is a Marimba One Premier Artist and a Signature Artist of Encore Mallets with his own signature series of mallets. Adam's compositions are published by Edition Svitzer.
Reviews +
- Review (Percussive Notes, June 2020)
  
  “Meet Again” is a beautiful, tonal marimba duo by the young Australian-Asian percussionist Adam Tan. It’s said that the marimba can be described as the “wood that sings,” and with Adam Tan there is certainly an expressive voice in his compositions to feature the marimba’s inherent lyrical quality. This 4-minute work from 2018 also makes full use of two 5-octave instruments, but most of the main melodies are within a 3.5-octave range with four mallets. The score and parts are very easy to read.
  
  In the accompanying notes, “Meet Again” is described as reunion in that “the feeling of being with someone, distancing for a period of time eventually returning back to that person and ‘meeting again.’” There is a sentiment there very applicable to the time of this review, given the global pandemic, and Tan’s music is a refreshing reminder of a need I think we can all relate to—the need to return to where we once were as musicians, teachers, composers, and students of music.
  
  The piece exquisitely blends its melodic and accompanying aspects equally between the two instruments. Rhythmically and tonally the piece is simple, staying in a few closely related keys with melodically sound phrases in recurring phrases of 3/8 for three measures followed by a measure of 5/8 in a “Beatle-esque” manner where your ear wouldn’t know unless you were looking at the score. Arranged in seven sections tempo-wise, this would be an ideal student or concert recital piece where two 5-octave marimbas are available.
  
  —N. Scott Robinson
Credits +
- Front Cover graphics and layout: Gaia Rodrigues
  Photo: Wilson Ng
  Engraving: Adam Tan & Johan Svitzer
  Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
  Copyright ©Adam Tan

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