Nyumbani (Solo Marimba)

Nyumbani is a gorgeous three movement (slow-fast-slow) work for solo marimba appropriate for a advanced high-school or college marimbist. Each movement (The Pond, Dragonfly, and Dusk) is programmatic and meant to evoke 3 different sonic tableaus inspired by the sumptuous gardens of the Grass Valley in Kenya.

Genre: Marimba (4-mallet) | # of Players: 1
Level: Medium Difficult | Duration: 13:15 total

Instrumentation
Marimba (4.5-octave)

Program Notes
Nyumbani is a three movement (slow-fast-slow) work for solo marimba. It was commissioned in 2007 by my friends Julia Amaral and Mark Strate. Regarding the title Nyumbani, Strate remarks, “While traveling in Kenya when our house in Grass Valley was under construction, we thought it would be fun to give the house a Swahili name. We considered several options and chose Nyumbani because it means ‘our home’.” The movements (The Pond, Dragonfly, and Dusk) are purely programmatic and meant to evoke 3 different sonic tableaus inspired by the sumptuous gardens around the Amaral/Strate estate.