Errata: Merlin

Merlin is an twelve-minute composition for marimba (low F) inspired by the poem "Merlin" written by Edwin Arlington Robinson. Composed by Andrew Thomas in 1985, Merlin was comissioned by William Moersch and premiered on 17 March 1987 at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. The work is broken into two movements, "Beyond the faint edge of the world" and "Time's Way."

Movement I, "Beyond the faint edge of the world", depicts Sir Gawain is approaching Camelot and looking for his first glimpse of the battlement of the castle at the horizon. He senses the doom that is to come. The music is sustained, with rolled chords played by the four-mallet technique supporting a slow melody. This movement was one of the first extensive uses of independent left hand and right hand rolls, simultaneously, and is amazingly idiomatic. The shifts between hand-to-hand and independent rolls really show the composer worked with comissioner to understand the differences in velocity and volume between rolling techniques.

Movement II, "Time's Way", expresses the dissolution of order as time passes. The entire movement uses chaotic, long phrases with short pauses between many of the phrases. This movement is certainly a tour de force for any marimbist, especially at the marked tempo! While the entire work remains fairly tonal, the true beauty of Merlin is in the idiomatic gestures for the instrument. Here are some errata that were discovered by William Moersch.

Mvt I, m. 19, upper staff: Don't forget that the Bb holds through the bar!

Mvt II, m. 53, lower staff: Ossia for 2nd 16th-note is F# 8va; ossia for 7th and 8th 16th-notes is to play the D# with the A rather than the F#.

Mvt II, m. 55, lower staff: Ossia for the 4th 16th-note (including the rest) is Eb only, without the D.

Mvt II, m. 71, upper staff: 9th 16th-note double-stop should be B natural and F.

Mvt II, m. 145, lower staff: F should be F#.

Mvt II, m. 176, lower staff: In the manuscript, the first 16th-note D (after the
rest) also has a D 8ba (that is, an octave) and the last 16th-note D in the
measure is an octave lower (but NOT octave D's).

Mvt II, m. 177, lower staff: In the manuscript, the 5th 16th-note is a middle C#, not a rest.

Given the skill and time required to learn Merlin, these edits will assist the soloist from having to re-learn difficult passages. Many of these corrections change the tonality of the work. A sincere appreciation goes to William Moersch for making these corrections available. The performer is also encouraged to read the text of the original poem which is available at the following link.

[ "Merlin", Robinson, Edwin Arlington, 1921 ]

Errata: Reflections on the Nature of Water

One of the first major pieces to be commissioned for marimba was Jacob Druckman's Reflections on the Nature of Water, commissioned in 1986 for famed percussionist William Moersch. The original engraving and printing of this piece was done by Boosey and Hawkes and contains several errors. The following is an updated compilation of errata for the B&H edition. These notes have been compiled by William Moersch and I appreciate his allowing me to make them available below.

Mvt I, m. 36, upper stave (3rd beat) - missing quarter-note rest

Mvt I, m. 37, both staves (entire measure) - tremolo

Mvt III, m. 11, lower stave (1st beat) - extend 16th beam to C

Mvt III, m. 17, lower stave (1st beat) - extend 16th beam to C

Mvt III, m. 25 (5th-7th eighth notes) - all 32nds, not 16ths

Mvt IV, m. 23, lower stave (last 16th note) - E, not Eb (missing natural sign)

Mvt IV, m. 43, upper stave (first beat) - A and C, not F and A

Mvt IV, m. 47, upper stave (last note) - G and C#, not G and D#

Mvt VI, m. 10, lower stave (3rd beat) - B, not Bb (missing natural sign)

Mvt VI, m. 16, lower stave (last 8th note) - B, not Bb (missing natural sign)

When performing any work, it is imperative to be aware that there may be misprints. Hopefully these corrections will assist the performer in giving a more correct performance.

When Five Octaves Is Not Enough

A recent thread on the PAS message board mentioned that instrument manufacturers are considering the possibility of building a marimba larger than five (5) octaves and making it accessible for purchase. This is very interesting, and I have mixed feelings about the issue. Yamaha seems to have created a 5-and-one-half octave marimba which ranges from C2 through G7 -- a picture of this can be found here or here. Grover Pro Percussion has created a 5.5 octave marimba that ranges from F1 to C7; see it here. The Yamaha is intended to allow a percussionist to play many violin transcriptions. I'm interested to see what direction this goes and if percussionists feel there is a need for a 5+ octave marimba. Some problems that could arise are:

Transporting the instrument if there are extra notes on the low end. Those resonators are very large!

Moving the instrument through doors; a low-A marimba already has problems getting through many doors at schools.

Acclimating percussionists to the extra distance required to cover the entire instrument. A five-octave marimba is over nine (9) feet long, and adding more to the instrument may make it impossible for most players to cover the instrument from end-to-end with mallets in hand.

Getting new works written for the instrument and having composers write alternate passages; this is already problematic for literature written for five-octave instruments.

For bars lower than C2, it gets difficult to hear them in an ensemble without amplification. Likewise, it's tough to make C7 project, let alone notes higher than that.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea and I do believe that expansion of the instrument is a natural evolution of technology. Let's all hope that composers, percussionists and manufacturers understand the needs that come with larger instruments.