Monday, December 08, 2008

Sleeping Marimbas

You Eric Whitacre fans will enjoy this:



Here's what he said about it:

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine myself writing the following words, but here they are: I just heard an exquisite performance of Sleep as transcribed for marimba quartet.

I found this on youtube this morning and was just knocked out, not so much by the novelty of the whole thing (roving, voyeuristic steady-cam shots of a marimba quartet), but by their nuanced music-making; their sense of line and phrase; and their deep, deep understanding of the underlying structure of the piece. Really blew my mind.

11 comments:

Jake Richey said...

Truly this was an enjoyable moment for me...just sitting and listening to real musicians interpret a vocal piece and reinvent it for marimba. wow. good stuff

Anonymous said...

Man, that song always gives me chills. Every freaking time. It's a really fantastic piece. I'd really love to hear that live... maybe some percussion students next semester would like to do it...

Chris Barbee

Jake Richey said...

that'd be cool. get adam, courtney, taylor, and either megan or alyssa to do it.

Anonymous said...

I'm not going to lie, I'm impressed with the video quality. Not once did I see the other camera. I kind of wonder if its possible that they recorded themselves several times, cause the angles definitely make that impossible. Twice, one shooting from the three forward anges, and another with the close-ups and back angles. But now I'm just rambling.

Unknown said...

I'm thinking multiple takes.

Anonymous said...

friggin sweet.
i play those things
all the time..though it doesn't
sound half, better yet, half of half that good,...the choir def needs to sing this...again.

(but uh, just wait for me to get there..or i'll cry. : D)

...ryan reese.

Mezzo with a Mission said...

hauntingly beautiful in a way that voices cannot duplicate.

Anonymous said...

So, this is obviously already a piece ABOUT sleep, but these guys truly turned it into a lullaby. Really wonderful.
-Linc

Anonymous said...

I definitely second G and Linc.

Anonymous said...

absolute love.

this blog never fails to leave me with a good video.

Unknown said...

wow... That song takes me back. To this day I have the recording of this song we did in Choir on my Ipod and still listen to it just to clear my head. It is a an amazing song and takes me back to a place where I met some really cool people and had some really cool experiences... thanks Dr. Copeland!