Perpetual Motion

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Description +
- I originally wrote this collection of 10 pieces for solo piano. I used to love playing collections of piano pieces for young people by composers such as Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Corea and others. Several of these collections I have arranged for percussion. This gave me the inspiration to transcribe these pieces to mallet instruments.
  
  All the pieces have technical challenges that will help young players develop co-ordination, balance of hands, stretching and stamina. However, each piece is a musical ‘story’. These stories can be developed in any way you wish by allowing your imagination and curiosity to take you on a journey of discovery!
  
  Dame Evelyn Glennie
  
  Index
  Clockwork Chimes
  Sleeping Snowman
  The Lonely Traveller
  Rustica Danza
  Perpetual Motion
  Courting Counting
  Ghost Waltz
  Toiling Lumberjacks
  Restless
  Snowflakes
Instrumentation +
- Solo Marimba
About the composer +
- Dame Evelyn Glennie is the first person in history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist, performing worldwide with the greatest orchestras, conductors and artists. Evelyn paved the way for orchestras globally to feature percussion concerti when she played the first percussion concerto in the history of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in 1992. Evelyn has commissioned over 200 new pieces for solo percussion from many of the world’s most eminent composers to vastly expand the percussion repertoire. She regularly provides masterclasses and consultations to inspire the next generation of musicians. The film ‘Touch the Sound’ and her enlightening TED speech remain key testimonies to her innovative approach to sound-creation.
  
  Leading 1000 drummers, Evelyn had the honour of a prominent role in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
  
  Evelyn was awarded an OBE in 1993 and now has over 100 international awards, including the Polar Music Prize and the Companion of Honour. She was recently appointed the first female President of Help Musicians, only the third person to hold the title since Sir Edward Elgar and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
  
  Evelyn is currently creating The Evelyn Glennie Collection with a vision to open a centre that embodies her mission to Teach the World to Listen. She aims to ‘improve communication and social cohesion by encouraging everyone to discover new ways of listening as proven in her book ‘Listen World!’. We want to inspire, to create, to engage and to empower’.
Reviews +
- Review (Percussive Notes, October 2021)
  
  Perpetual Motion is a collection of 10 pieces for beginning to intermediate marimbists that was originally composed by Dame Evelyn Glennie for solo piano. Each piece comes with its own technical challenges. Glennie emphasizes that “each piece is a musical ‘story.’ These stories can be developed in any way you wish by allowing your imagination and curiosity to take you on a journey of discovery!” This sets the tone that musical discovery, something sometimes overlooked for the sake of technical mastery or note accuracy, is paramount.
  
  Each solo has a title implying Glennie’s intentions but leaving the details to the performer. Examples are “Clockwork Chimes,” “Toiling Lumberjacks,” and “Snowflakes.” Also, each piece is preceded by sentences describing the technical or musical content — directing the performer, but not “putting them in a box.” The solos get longer as the book progresses. The first three are one page, the next six are two pages, and the final solo is three pages. The collection is beautifully and thoughtfully conceived and executed.
  
  The fact that the original format of the material was solo piano explains why most of the solos follow an accompaniment (left hand) and melody (right hand) format. This will help develop independence in young performers. Additionally, nearly every solo employs treble and bass clef together, which is great for developing students’ reading skills.
  
  I recommend this book for its target demographic: young marimbists. It is an excellent resource to develop marimba technique but also, most importantly, something to help develop young artists and allow them to explore their musical identity.
  
  —Justin Bunting
Credits +
- Front Cover Graphics: Ronni Kot Wenzell
  Photo: Jim Callaghan
  Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
  Copyright © 2014 Faber Music Ltd.
  These arrangements © 2015 Faber Music Ltd.
  www.editionsvitzer.com

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