Professional, The

for solo marimba

Robbie Green

Level: Easy

Duration: 1:30

State Lists: Missouri | Florida | Texas

Release Date: 2020

Product ID : TSPCS20-002

Price: $8.00

Item #: TSPCS20-002

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Description

Robbie Green’s solo for marimba, The Professional, is a perfect first marimba solo for any young percussionist looking to delve into four-mallet playing. Two different strokes are used throughout the piece, which are the bread and butter of marimba playing, the single alternating stroke and the double vertical stroke. There’s also an opportunity for the performer to play a melody in one hand and an accompaniment with the other, which requires balance between the hands.

This solo ships in a printed, professionally bound folio with a full color cover. This solo also appears in Sequential Studies Volume 2 by Julia Gaines.

Instrumentation

• Marimba (4-octave)

Reviews

“The Professional” is a wonderful beginning four-mallet solo that combines an engaging melody with level appropriate pedagogy. It is only two pages long and clocks in at 90 seconds, making it doable for a beginner to learn in a reasonable amount of time. The piece is not overly ambitious and seeks to tackle just a few key technical issues: single alternating strokes, double vertical strokes, and single independent strokes.

The theme is clear throughout and is restated using the various featured techniques. The score is easy to read and has enough instruction to guide the player without putting too much ink on the page. The sticking is notated, but sparingly, and in a way that makes sense regardless of the player’s grip. There are enough dynamics to make the piece musical without increasing the difficulty beyond the targeted level.

The sections of the piece are well developed and last just long enough to be effective without dragging on past the point of being engaging. “The Professional” was written to be a useful and student-serving four-mallet solo, and it hits the nail right on the head. This would be an excellent piece for any beginning mallet student, regardless of age or school level.

—Marilyn K. Clark Silva
Percussive Notes
Vol. 58, No. 6, December 2020