I want to know if some of you percussion history buffs can enlighten me on something. As I was practicing today, I was hit with a suddent thought. I took a look at what I was practicing (Op. 6, No. 9), and thought "Wait a second, if I'm playing #9, out of Opus #6, then how many of these things exist?" Even though I've played/heard most of his etudes/preludes that are in print, the numbers never occured to me. I consulted my Steve Weiss catalog, to make sure that I wasn't forgetting any, and all were accounted for.

So here's my question: How many of these things exist? Are most of them out of print? - or did they never make it to the printing press, to begin with? In the event that they were pulled from the press, what was the reason behind it? If several do exist, then are they held in a family estate, private collections, treasure chest in the back yard, etc? - or are they forever lost? I did up a google search, with a post mentioning something about one in Villa Rica, Ga, that the owner won't let out of his sight.

Any information, would be greatly appreciated.

Julia

Umm.. wouldn't it depend on who wrote the opus in the first place? obviously composers may have written dozens of opuses (plural? opii? opuses? anyway...) so there are countless ones.

If I remember correctly, When Musser was teaching, he would write these etudes for his students to help with certain technical problems they were having playing the instrument. I believe the reason some of the became published were because of the students. That's the tale I've heard from several different marimba buffs. Hope it helps.