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Micheal Barnes’ Distance is a moving, reflective piece centering around the separation and termination of relationships between people. The concept of the piece’s namesake, distance, can be seen literally through the player’s hands that spread apart throughout the piece until they are separated a great distance at the climax.
Scored for 5-octave marimba, seven crotales (2-octave range), and optional ocean drum accompaniment, Distance is a heartfelt but ambitious work for a mature performer that has a good command over both traditional and one-handed rolls.
This piece ships as a printed, professionally bound folio with a full-color cover.
“Distance” is a beautifully composed piece in A major that will leave the listener singing the melody afterwards. Published in 2015, “Distance” is a “programmatic work representing the separation and termination of relationships between people. The smooth, sweeping phrases suggest roads traveled between two people, while optional ocean drum accompaniment represents rainfall, change, and cleansing.”
The piece opens (and closes) with an open-5th roll on marimba and a very brief crotale passage. All other material is played on marimba with four medium to medium-soft mallets. A statement of the main thematic material follows the opening passage and is followed by a fast and brief idiomatic sixteenth-note passage outlining the melody. A rolled chorale section follows another slow statement of the melody. Following another idiomatic sixteenth-note section a climatic choral is reached.
“Distance” requires both traditional (hand to hand) and one-handed rolls, which are beautifully notated. The use of octaves in the right hand is prevalent in all facets of the piece and a strong grasp of interval control is central to a successful performance.
Overall, “Distance” is a beautiful piece that will offer technical and musical challenges to any upper-intermediate player. In this reviewer’s opinion the use of crotales does not enhance the piece very much, but the ocean drum accompaniment is quite effective, given the musical context. Aside from the two brief sixteenth-note sections, the use of compositional devices by Michael Barnes is excellent. “Distance” would be a welcome addition to any undergraduate recital.
—Joe Millea
Percussive Notes
Vol. 55, No. 1, March 2017
Micheal Barnes’ Distance is a moving, reflective piece centering around the separation and termination of relationships between people. The concept of the piece’s namesake, distance, can be seen literally through the player’s hands that spread apart throughout the piece until they are separated a great distance at the climax.
Scored for 5-octave marimba, seven crotales (2-octave range), and optional ocean drum accompaniment, Distance is a heartfelt but ambitious work for a mature performer that has a good command over both traditional and one-handed rolls.
This piece ships as a printed, professionally bound folio with a full-color cover.
“Distance” is a beautifully composed piece in A major that will leave the listener singing the melody afterwards. Published in 2015, “Distance” is a “programmatic work representing the separation and termination of relationships between people. The smooth, sweeping phrases suggest roads traveled between two people, while optional ocean drum accompaniment represents rainfall, change, and cleansing.”
The piece opens (and closes) with an open-5th roll on marimba and a very brief crotale passage. All other material is played on marimba with four medium to medium-soft mallets. A statement of the main thematic material follows the opening passage and is followed by a fast and brief idiomatic sixteenth-note passage outlining the melody. A rolled chorale section follows another slow statement of the melody. Following another idiomatic sixteenth-note section a climatic choral is reached.
“Distance” requires both traditional (hand to hand) and one-handed rolls, which are beautifully notated. The use of octaves in the right hand is prevalent in all facets of the piece and a strong grasp of interval control is central to a successful performance.
Overall, “Distance” is a beautiful piece that will offer technical and musical challenges to any upper-intermediate player. In this reviewer’s opinion the use of crotales does not enhance the piece very much, but the ocean drum accompaniment is quite effective, given the musical context. Aside from the two brief sixteenth-note sections, the use of compositional devices by Michael Barnes is excellent. “Distance” would be a welcome addition to any undergraduate recital.
—Joe Millea
Percussive Notes
Vol. 55, No. 1, March 2017
