Waterfall (Download)

for solo marimba

Dustin Schulze

Level: Med-Advanced

Duration: 5:00

State Lists: Florida | Texas | Missouri | Indiana

Release Date: 2019

Product ID : TSPCS19-011DL

Price: $16.00

Item #: TSPCS19-011DL

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Description

Dustin Schulze’s marimba solo, Waterfall, is his attempt to “amplify Mother Nature’s eternal melody” through a “deluge of rhythms and pitches.” Throughout the piece, Schulze uses a constant stream of running sixteenth-notes juxtaposed with undulating dynamics to help create the image of running water. At various points in the piece, the music seems tranquil and placid, at others, the music is tense, loud, and full of motion, just like a rushing waterfall. To help create an even clearer image, Schulze instructs the performer not to “transfer tension into the bars through excessive pressure.” This will help the music maintain a relaxed and uninterrupted sound throughout the piece.

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Instrumentation

• 1 marimba—4.3-octave (low A)

Reviews

This virtuosic work consists of about five minutes of constant sixteenth notes that include a large dynamic range, accents, and various permutations. The musical and expressive opportunities in this piece are quite extensive. The composer states, “This piece depicts the continuous and percussive flow of a waterfall. The amorphous beads of water striking the bottom of the waterfall create a deluge of rhythms and pitches, amplifying Mother Nature’s eternal melody.”

The program of the piece is clearly evident from the beginning. The constant flow of notes building in volume have irregular accents placed throughout. This amplifies the flowing water aesthetic with single large drops of water. The flow of the music (water) includes an underlying sense of harmonic and melodic motion throughout. This adds to the program of the constant motion of water creating a waterfall. There is some push and pull in the tempo of the notes through accelerandi and rallentandi. The piece ends with a single pitch, F3, dissolving away into a roll.

This would be a great piece for a college percussionist performing in a studio class, or on a student recital or degree recital. There are sticking, and thus harmonic, patterns to latch onto during the note-learning process, but the occasional irregularity will present a welcome challenge.

—Justin Bunting
Percussive Notes
Vol. 58, No. 1, February 2020