Spencer-Before the Beginning (Ens) (SP)-4M NORSK VERSION

Julie Spencer has adapted her marimba solo entitled Before the Beginning here for marimba quartet. Spencer says:
"Before the Beginning was written during a time of much change. I had just started studying tabla, West African Drumming, jazz harmony, and improvisation at CalArts in Los Angeles. I went back to the marimba one day to write this piece for a student's recital. It was cathartic. Like slow motion photography of dolphins swimming underwater and jumping in graceful arcs of motion, the four voices of "Before the Beginning" take turns rising above and back into the chordal blue waves of sound. The intense peacfulness I feel playing the music of "Before the Beginning" make me think about keeping a calm center in the middle of new beginnings. Shortly after writing it, I recorded it for the first time in the studio of the late French film composer Michel Colombier. This was one of his favorite pieces of mine."

Number of players - 4
Instrumentation - 4 marimbas (1 4.5 octave, 3 4.0 octave) All 2 mallets