Rift (4 on 1 5-octave Marimba)

Using a single 5-octave marimba, Rift brings a fresh new voice to the marimba quartet. Using close harmony and sudden dynamic changes to paint a picture of a falling out between two parties, the piece serves as a challenging and fun marimba quartet for any group of percussionists with limited resources.

Genre: Percussion Ensemble | # of Players: 4
Level: Intermediate | Duration: 5:00

Instrumentation
Score (8.5"x11" stapled booklet)
One Shared 5-octave Marimba

Program Notes
Rift is all about the connections in life that grow apart. Slowly but surely, a gap begins to form between two, one that slowly lengthens and grows until the rift puts those two out of sight from each other. At some point, a reconnection is attempted, but unfortunately fails, and the rift remains once more.

To highlight the nature of the piece, the quartet performs on the same side of the marimba, creating connection through the densely textured material and their proximity to each other. I felt this contemporary compositional technique was well suited for Rift.

A special thanks to Dr. David Glover for allowing my vision to come alive in the Slippery Rock University Percussion Ensemble. And thank you to Jacob, Jeremiah, Logan, and Connor for playing the premiere of this piece.

– Z.C.