Mallet Ensembles Vol. 2

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Description +
- Duration: 15 min.
  
  As many kids, I started to play drums and later in the teens I got in contact with the melodic percussion… and I was stucked! With the songs in Mallet Ensembles I have an attempt to awaken a young drummers curiosity for marimba and vibrphone. Therefore I use repeated technical patterns in the chord parts, quite easy to learn, but a little bit tricky and fun for a drummer to play.
  
  These three songs are orchestrated for a couple of mallet instruments – to get a rich and ”fat sound”, please double each part on both marimba and vibraphone in several octaves. The glockenspiel part is grade as easy, melody part is a little bit harder and chord parts intermediate.
  
  Index:
  Don't stop the groove!
  Tellus
  Ride the Wind
Instrumentation +
- Marimba Ensemble:
  
  Glockenspiel
  2 Vibraphone
  1 Marimbas
  Percussion/Drum Set
  Bass
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About the composer +
- Daniel Berg is a Swedish composer, musician, and professor in classical percussion at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and at the Academy of music and drama in Gothenburg.
  
  In his passion to promote the marimba as a solo- and chamber music instrument, Daniel has worked intimately with a number of composers who have written original music for the instrument. This includes more than 300 world premier for solo and chamber works. Daniel Berg is a marimba artist of Bergerault and Elite Mallets.
  
  As a composer Daniel has written a lot for solo marimba like Mistral (for Michael Burritt), Phoenix (for Robert van Sice) and Yán Jiâng (for the Taiwan World Percussion Competition). His music for percussion ensemble have been appreciated and often performed like Kroumata (for sextet) and Arctic Nights (for quintet) - all published by Edition Svitzer.
Reviews +
- Review (Percussive Notes, June 2020)
  
  Mallet Ensembles Vol. 2 is a set of three pieces written for young mallet ensemble. The composer writes, “With the songs in Mallet Ensembles I have an attempt to awaken a young drummer’s curiosity for marimba and vibraphone. Therefore, I use repeated technical patterns in the chord parts, quite easy to learn, but a little bit tricky and fun for a drummer to play.”
  
  The first of the three, “Don’t Stop the Groove,” is dedicated to Gordon Stout and is focused on keeping a grooving rhythmic feel while maintaining energy. Berg’s clever use repetition and patterns make this piece sound complicated but accessible to a younger, less experienced mallet player. The second piece, “Tellus,” is about the creation of the world, and it uses a heavy tempo and 6/8 feel. This would be a great piece to introduce young players to some very light improvisation and simple multiple-percussion playing. The final piece, “Ride the Wind,” uses odd time signatures and varying patterns to challenge the players a bit more.
  
  These pieces are well crafted and offer a lot of room for doubling for larger groups. They are easy but will offer younger players and ensembles the opportunity to feel like they are playing professional-level music. Daniel Berg clearly has a keen sense of composition for young players while maintaining some level of depth. I highly recommend this collection for any middle school or beginning high school ensemble.
  
  —Joe Millea
Credits +
- Front Cover layout: Gaia Gomes
  Photo: Per Buhre
  Engraving: Johan Svitzer
  Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
  Copyright © Edition SVITZER
  www.editionsvitzer.com

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