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Windows of the Maloca (Download)

for percussion ensemble

Jim Casella

Level: Advanced

Duration: 5:30

Personnel: 14 players

State Lists: Texas

Release Date: 2017

Product ID : TSPCE17-019DL

Price: $55.00

Item #: TSPCE17-019DL

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Description

After returning home from the Amazon jungle of Peru, Jim Casella wrote Windows of the Maloca as a testament to the spirit of connectedness he experienced and, as he wrote, how "individual components of an ecosystem exist together as a community. No matter how small the organism, it affects some other part of the whole, even if not immediately apparent." This advanced ensemble piece for 14 players features a repeating metric framework of 7/8+7/8+7/8+6/8, which remains consistent through the piece. Casella brilliantly weaves in different textures and rhythmic motives without disrupting the flow and groove of this intricate metric framework.

Windows of the Maloca was commissioned by Brandon Kunka, director of the Roswell High School percussion ensemble of Roswell, Georgia. It was premiered at the Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA) conference in Athens, Georgia, in January 2017.

Use of this product is governed by the license terms outlined here.

Instrumentation

• Crotales (low octave)

• Glockenspiel

• Chimes

• Xylophone

• 2 vibraphones

• 4 marimbas*—low A

• 4 timpani

• Drums (2 snare drums, mounted kick (muted), bongos, concert toms (4), djembe)

• Cymbals & gongs (hi-hat, sizzle cymbal, suspended cymbal, ride cymbal, china cymbal, splash cymbal, opera gong)

• Accessories (guiro, mark tree, Zil-Bell, 4 graduated cowbells, shekere, Energy chime (E pitch), 2 high woodblocks (graduated), triangle, temple blocks, ribbon crasher, tambourine, small shaker)

* 4 marimbas are ideal, however the parts are structured so that M1 and M2 can share an instrument, and M3 and M4 can share an instrument.

Shared Recordings

Reviews

If you are looking for an engaging piece to reinvigorate your high school or college percussion ensemble, look no further than “Windows of the Maloca” by Jim Casella. This percussion ensemble has plenty of notes to keep your performers busy, while balancing the “chops” with stunning harmonies sure to send a chill down their spines. This piece gets the toes tapping with an unfaltering groove that alternates an ostinato pattern of 7/8, 7/8, 7/8, 6/8.

Casella begins this drum corps inspired piece with a single snare drum playing on the rim, but gradually adds to the texture until you have all 14 musicians playing in and around the ostinato in an unrelenting percussive texture that continually morphs for the entirety of the 5 1⁄2-minute work.

This work features involved mallet parts with unique hand and hip muffling that is clearly explained in the performance notes, as well as percussion solos for temple block and timpani. In addition, several aggressive, percussion-heavy moments feature an intricate interplay between the various percussion parts. The djembe and shekere parts are straight forward and user-friendly for performers with no previous experience and a strong rhythmic foundation. The mallet parts all contain advanced two-mallet passages with the xylophone, vibraphone 1, and each of the four marimba parts all containing frequent use of four mallets. The timpani part requires tuning throughout but is playable on four drums.

“Windows of the Maloca” will present some challenges for a younger ensemble, with its use uncommon subdivisions, and a brief section where the mallet parts split a thirty-second-note run; however, the added difficulty is well worth the reward and would provide a great learning opportunity.

–Quintin Mallette
Percussive Notes
Vol. 56, No. 2, May 2018

Description

Instrumentation

• Crotales (low octave)

• Glockenspiel

• Chimes

• Xylophone

• 2 vibraphones

• 4 marimbas*—low A

• 4 timpani

• Drums (2 snare drums, mounted kick (muted), bongos, concert toms (4), djembe)

• Cymbals & gongs (hi-hat, sizzle cymbal, suspended cymbal, ride cymbal, china cymbal, splash cymbal, opera gong)

* 4 marimbas are ideal, however the parts are structured so that M1 and M2 can share an instrument, and M3 and M4 can share an instrument.

Shared Recordings

Reviews

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