How much literature is written for a 4.5 marimba? What are some peices written for a 4.5?

Alex,

Since no one has responded yet...

I'll leave it to others to discuss the current literature composed specifically for marimba - I graduated from college just around the time that 4.5 octave marimbas (and larger) were starting to become the de facto standard, so most of my experience with the literature was music written for instruments in the 4.3 range.

A 4.5 octave instrument can be very helpful in terms of performing violin and guitar transcriptions (for guitar, provided that it is a "low-E" marimba, and not just a "low-F"), by allowing you to take the transcription down one octave from where it is written.

Guitar music is notated one octave higher than it actually sounds, so while the written guitar range fits on a 4 or 4.3 octave marimba, the sounding range requires a 4.5. Violin music is written at sounding pitch, but the characteristics of the violin vs. the marimba are different in that range; music which may lie in the strong lower-to-mid-range of the violin will be in the middle and upper range of the marimba - and when you get into the higher ranges of the violin, where the instrument just sings, the marimba tends to peter out; dropping it an octave puts it into a much stronger range on the marimba. This is especially important if playing some of the slower movements from Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, but it applies to all of the movements, really. Once you've played Bach down the octave, it'll be tough for you to go back and play it "as written," IMHO.

JW

Two titles that pop in to my head first are very popular here and require 4.5 octave marimbas:
Gitano - Alice Gomez
Polaris - Mark Ford

I also think Virginia Tate by Paul Smadbeck can be fit onto a 4.5 If you have questions e-mail me: percussionspecialist@hotmail.com or call me 800-341-7004.

Tyson Titensor
Percussion Specialist