Including nine interviews and two historical chapters, Masters of the Marimba is a deep dive into the lives of a select few marimbists who have had the most profound impact on the marimba. Features interviews with Abe, Burritt, Klimasara, Sammut, Stevens, Stout, van Sice, Zeltsman, and Živković, and historical chapters on Clair Omar Musser and Vida Chenoweth.
Publisher’s Introduction: Selecting “Masters of the Marimba”
There are hundreds of great marimbists who qualify as a “master” of the marimba that are not featured, or even mentioned, in this book. This book is not intended to be an encyclopedia of great marimba artists, but a deep dive into the lives of a select few who have had the most profound impact on the instrument.
A group of knowledgeable editors chose these particular artists, not only because they contributed to the wider recognition of marimba as a legitimate concert instrument, but because they checked all three of our criteria:
- Did they achieve and maintain an extended career as a soloist or performer on the marimba, and did their performances reach beyond percussion audiences into the wider world of concert music?
- Did they contribute to the permanent repertoire of the marimba by commissioning composers or by composing or arranging themselves? Are one or more of those works firmly entrenched in the permanent repertoire because they championed that work or that composer?
- Did their work produce a multi-generational group of followers — other influential marimbists — who studied with them, or were influenced by their pedagogy, teachings, recordings, workshops, or concerts?
More than twenty well-known masters of the marimba who may not have “checked all three boxes” were invited to contribute a one-page feature. Those great players might still be too young to have made a contribution to all three areas, or perhaps they have chosen a career path less singularly-focused on the marimba. Some of these selected players declined, and certainly our editorial board may have overlooked other worthy musicians.
We are excited to share this labor of love with you, and hope you enjoy delving into the lives of these fantastic musicians as much as we did.
