Includes instructions and score.
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Review from Percussive Notes (2021):
Marimba Wheel
David Macbride
Subtitled “A Sonic Ride for Four Marimbas and Riders,” “Marimba Wheel” is a truly unique experience for the audience. In the performance instructions, David Macbride refers to the audience as riders and puts them through an amusement-park-like experience. The audience lines up outside the performance space, is given instructions by the “ride attendant,” enter the space, and lie down under the marimba for the “duration of the ride.” Once a cycle of the piece is complete, another group of riders enters the ride.
As is true with much of Macbride’s music, there are detailed instructions for a successful and accurate performance of the work. The score is non-traditional and employs a circular presentation of material, as opposed to left to right. That said, the actual musical material is not technically difficult. All notes are rolled, and nothing notated is less in value than a whole note. The piece is about the sonic experience for the performers and, especially, the audience. All four players have the same notes. They start in different places, following detailed instructions for how to move “around the circle” to complete a rotation around the “marimba wheel.”
I would recommend this piece for an intermediate to advanced percussion quartet. The piece requires coordination, planning, and chamber-music skills, while not requiring great virtuosity or technical facility. Potential limitations include the need for four 5-octave marimbas and the need for the audience to stand in line and lie down under the instruments for the performance (in order to present a performance as intended by the composer).
—Justin Bunting
Demo:
