Square One - Ensemble Version

Item details

• Description +

  • Square One is a challenging marimba solo that showcases a performer’s virtuosity and endurance. The piece is built upon a singular rhythmic pattern; this opens the piece and reoccurs throughout the duration of the work in various forms, as if the performer and the audience are constantly being knocked back to square one.
    
    This version of square one is an expansion of the original solo marimba piece with percussion quintet accompaniment. The solo part is nearly identical to the original, allowing those who have learned the original version to easily play with an ensemble.
    
    Written for the World Percussion Group 2024.
    
    The piece is based on the following words:
    
    Have I made any progress in my journey at all? If I look back, how far have I actually walked Or have I always been circling Tracing the edges and corners of square one
    
    Joey Eng

• Instrumentation +

  • For Solo Marimba and Percussion Quintet
    
    Marimba (5 oct.) - soloist
    2 Vibraphones (3 oct.)
    Glockenspiel
    Crotales
    Djembe
    Darbuka
    3 Suspended Cymbals
    Sizzle Cymbal
    Shaker
    Caxixi
    
    Note: If no crotales can be sourced, the crotales part can be played on a second glockenspiel, with the bowed notes bowed on either the glockenspiel or Percussion 1’s vibraphone. It is also possible to play this piece with two suspended cymbals rather than three if one is shared between Percussion 4 and Percussion 5.

• Watch+

  • Performers
    Marimba: Joey Eng
    Percussion 1: Trik Gass
    Percussion 2: Emma Ng
    Percussion 3: Melody Tang
    Percussion 4: Josue Berrocal
    Percussion 5: Hyunwoo Kim
    
    

• About the composer +

  • Joey Eng (b. 2001) is an Australian percussionist, composer, producer and educator. As a soloist, Joey was a winner of the 2022 Warana Concerto Competition, a semi-finalist in the 2020 Warana Concerto Competition, a finalist for the 2022 Richard Gill Award, and a finalist in both the inaugural 2019 Marimbafest solo marimba competition and the 2021 Marimbafest solo marimba competition, in which he placed 2nd. A multi-skilled percussionist and collaborator, he has performed with many orchestras across Australia including the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Perth Symphony Orchestra, Australian Baroque, Australian Youth Orchestra, and the Vienna Pops Orchestra.
    
    As a composer, Joey was a finalist in both the 2020 and 2021 WAAPA Symphony Orchestra Composition Competitions and has had multiple new works premiered by the Defying Gravity percussion ensemble. Joey also regularly premieres new orchestral works, solo and chamber percussion pieces through his Youtube channel - works that have since been performed by percussionists around the world. As a composer-performer, he has scored and performed in live theatre productions including ‘The Hope Fault’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’. Joey is also an adept arranger, and his arrangements of contemporary songs have been performed by the Perth Symphony Orchestra, the WAAPA Symphony Orchestra and Defying Gravity.
    
    Joey completed his Bachelor of Music from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts under the tutelage of Tim White OAM, receiving the 2022 WAAPA Medal as the top graduate of the entire school. Joey has been awarded an ECU Vice Chancellor’s Award, an ECU WAAPA Scholarship, a 2022 Peter Hurford Award, the 2022 Luigi Paolino Award, and the 2021 Norman Archibald Percussion Scholarship.
    
    Joey is endorsed by Marimba One (USA).

• Credits +

  • Front Cover Graphics and Layout: Nicola Lee
    Photo: Joey Eng
    Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
    Copyright © Edition SVITZER
    www.editionsvitzer.com

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