Seven Miniatures for Vibraphone and Marimba

“The various movements of Seven Miniatures for Vibraphone and Marimba were composed between fall 1993 and spring 1997. Each movement is under two minutes in length and represents a very specific idea or feeling.

“Escape is an homage to Prokofiev and his short piano pieces. In particular, a movement from the Fugitive Visions collections, ‘Commodo,’ inspired the texture of this piece.

“Dance was originally written for string orchestra and soon after adapted to percussion duet. A large portion of the middle section was cut and the ending was rewritten to accommodate a proportionate relationship between all seven miniatures.

“Lament was an attempt to seek the more lyrical aspects of marimba. The harmonic and melodic material in this movement has become part of several other pieces written by the composer since fall 1993.

“Interlude presents an interesting juxtaposition between the marimba playinng 5/8 in a feeling of two and the vibraphone playing the same meter in a feeling of five. The sound of the vibraphone played without pedaling almost exclusively throughout this movement creates the contrast needed for a successful interlude movement.

“Zero One Five is the one exception to the idea that each of the seven movements is presented to evoke a specific idea or mood. This piece was written with the purpose simply to contain notes found in teh set zero-one-five.

“Chorale was originally written for SATB chorus. The text used for the original was Cantate Domino, canticum novum.

“Silhouette is a rag. The original concept was to write a piece for computer that would be inaccessible on normal acoustic instruments, much like how Conlin Nan Carrow wrote for player piano. After the rag was completed, the composer was able to extract a portion of it and arrange it for xylophone and piano. Since then, it has been arranged for marimba and vibraphone.”

—Matthew Kazmierski