Chinese Marimba Pieces - Paper - Wei Chen Lin Lecture - Recital - Handout
Chinese Marimba Pieces - Paper - Wei Chen Lin Lecture - Recital - Handout
Chinese Marimba Pieces - Paper - Wei Chen Lin Lecture - Recital - Handout
By Wei-Chen Lin
Handout
Liu Guangsi, the father of percussion in China, was teaching in The Central
percussion with the conductor of former Soviet Union Red Army stationed in
Dalian, Liaoning Province, and with Willie Kauffman, the conductor of the East
After the Culture Revolution (1966-1976, until the arrest of the Gang of
as one of the repertoires for her concert tour in CHINA in 1981. In 1984 Kitahara
Chidori, the president of the North Star Society, a Japanese marimba society,
visited China and held a series of “North Star marimba ensemble” concerts.
.
Lu Qingshan
as 1988. Prof. Lu started to learn marimba after 1988 with Prof. Liu Kuangsi and
started to teach marimba around 1992. Lu Qingshan became the first professor
which is the first student percussion ensemble in the music history of China.
compose for marimba solo; instead, Chinese composers Tan Dun and Qigan Chen
compose some important marimba parts in their orchestral works that require
higher performance technique, such as, Tan Dun’s Internet Symphony Eroica,
oubliés.
a. Zerming Fan: Restless, composed in 2007 as the set piece of the China
b. Liu Gang: Sunshine over Tashkurgan arranged from violin solo piece.
studied with Richard Hochrainer and received his Diploma of Music Perfomer at
National University of the Arts and currently the chairman of the Board of the
Ya-Wen Lien, the founder and former artist director of Taipei Percussion
and the artist director of Lien Percussion and Kigo Music Education. In 1975, Mr.
Ranta at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei in 1978. Mr. Lien studied
abroad to learn percussion with Walter Veigle and George Frome at Vienna
Academy of Music in 1983. In 1985, Mr. Lien received his Diploma of Music
Perfomer. Mr. Lien is currently the principle timpanist of the Taiwan
Philharmonic.
Yiu-Kwang Chung:
Concerto No.1 for marimba solo and band (2006), commissioned by Taiwan
Brass Society
(2010)
The composer, Ting-Chuan Chen (b. 1977)
Assistant Timpanist of Taiwan Philharmonic
Introduction m.1
A. m.2-70
a. m. 2-38 (Seconds)
B. m.71-118
d. m.71-92
e. m. 93-118
A’ m. 119-205
a” m. 119-126 (Seconds)
Concept of Constantine
The music concept of the Constantine is from the movie with the same name
which is released in 2005. The piece won the Universal Marimba Composition
Competition in 2010.
The music depicts the fighting between kindness and viciousness; and, due
to the ambition of Satan’s son Mammon, the collapse of paradise, human world,
and hell. The end of the octaves implies the honorable sacrifice of Constantine’s
c. Perfect eights
2. Bass ostinato
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
3. Transposition of phrases
4. Extensive technique
a. Dead stroke
b. One-hand Roll
c. The awkwardness of playing position
5. “Unplayable tempo”
percussionist can play sixteenth notes at 160 per quarter note…. When holding
four mallets, speed is slowed to sixteenth notes at 120 per quarter note since two
1
Solomon (2004: 13).
II. Chen Yi Jing Marimba for solo marimba (2009)
The Composer, Chen Yi (b.1953)
Chen Yi is the first female composer who received the Master of Music from
Chen Yi’s Jing Marimba explores the percussive nature of the marimba.
Gordon Stout’s deft control of note-to-note dynamics, bringing out the different
voices of compound melodies, animates its moto perpetuo character. A segment
of the jinghu part from the Beijing opera repertoire serves as a jumping off point
for short musical journeys that always wind their way back to the main theme,
Take the 180 measures of music in 2/4 beat to time 0.6, to get the GS in m. 109
and the proportions starting at m. 109, m. 66, m. 40, m. 152, and so on. The
whole work is divided to two parts (the first from the beginning to m. 108, the
second 109 to the end). Texture changes take place when GS point in different
2
Britt (2011: 137)
3
Zeltsman (2009: )
First Part m.1 – m.108
Part A Part B
a. m.1-23 m. 66-90
b. m. 24 -39 m. 91-108
a. m.40 - 65
GS1
GS 2
GS 3
GS 4
Tonality
a. Pentatonic Scale
b. Heptatonic Scale
Percussive Section
M.122 to M. 132 two pentatonic scales overlap to each other. The dissonant
C D E G A C G E♭ F G B♭ C
C♭ D♭ E♭ G♭ A♭ B D E F♯ A B
E♭ F G B♭ C B♭E♭ G♭ A♭ B♭ D♭ E♭
D E F♯ A B D F G A C D
Pivot Note: D
M.138 – M140 M140 – M143
G♭ A♭ B♭ D♭ E♭ C♯ F♯ A B C♯ E F♯
F G A C D F A♭ B♭ C E♭ F
Pivot Note: F
M140 – M143
A B C♯ E F♯
A♭ B♭ C E♭ F
M148 – M151
III. Yao Chen: Asura for solo marimba and two Tibetan
bowls (2014)
The composer, Yao Chen (b. 1978)
Yao Chen received his PhD in music composition from the University of
University.
“In the Buddhist cosmology there are six realms of Samsara, or the cycle of
birth, death and rebirth. They represent the inevitability of past and future
rebirths in different states. In order to end the cycle of Samsara, one has to
achieve the nirvana, or enlightenment. In one of the five lower realms exists
the asuras.”
The Form of Asura and the meaning of Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ
demi-gods, asuras)
Unique Form
A. m.1-45
B. m. 46-89
C. m. 90-113
D. m. 114-149
E. m. 150-167
F. m. 168-205
Coda m. 206-230
Extensive Technique
1. Human voice
2. Dead Stroke