Square One

Item details

• Description +

  • Duration: 7 min.
    
    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.
    
    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 +

  • Marimba (5.0)

• Watch+

  • Performance by Joey Eng
    
    

• 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).

• Reviews +

  • Review (Percussive Notes, February 2025)
    
    This is a showstopper! In Square One, Joey Eng pens a programmatic showpiece that, in a very meta way, is written to depict the journey of a performer while also showcasing the musical and technical skills developed throughout their journey.

    Eng, a noted performer and composer of popular works such as Saudade and The Narrows, is no stranger to high-energy works for marimba. In Square One, Eng continuously brings the performer back to “square one,” where they are playing similar melodic material but in an evolving musical texture that continuously adds layers of complexity.

    This piece requires advanced four-mallet technique and a 5-octave marimba. There are several challenging elements throughout, including broad reaches, melodic material in octaves, quick lateral strokes, and rapid arpeggiations. Despite the sometimes-awkward key of B major, the piece feels manageable and lays comfortably on the instrument. Most notably, the chorale in measure 51 is quite beautiful and features some unexpected harmonic movement that stands out amidst the otherwise similar melodic material.

    Square One would be a strong choice for a recital or audition piece that can showcase virtuosity as well as nuance. The engraving is clear and easy to read, although a few passages are tricky to decipher due to the beaming and several sixteenth-note rests. However, it is easy enough to get used to Eng’s notational style, and the piece is well worth the time and attention this challenge brings.

    Kudos to Eng on this exciting piece.

    —Quintin Mallette

• Credits +

  • With support from Koda’s Cultural Funds
    Front Cover Graphics and Layout: Nicola Lee
    Photo: Joey Eng
    Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
    Copyright © Edition SVITZER
    www.editionsvitzer.com

Related publications

Luminosity

Niflheim

When Spring Comes

Elyl & Tap

The Narrows

Saudade Fantasia

Saudade

Blossom

Square One - Ensemble Version