Cheung-Preludes in A Major and a minor-M

From the composer:
Prelude in A Major use one of the most common mallet permutations for the marimba, 1-2-3-4-3-2-1. However, it is important for the player to not treat this piece as an exercise, but instead focus on subjects such as the voice leading (melody, bass, middle accompaniment), harmonic progression and phrasing.
Duration: Less than a minute

Prelude in a minor is based on a 7 note motif, E-F-G-E-D-C-B, that is presented in the melody. The motif is subsequently inverted and retrograded in its entirety. Underneath that is a bass line that simply descends chromatically from the Bb below middle c to the low A of a 4.3 octave marimba. The challenge of this piece would be to maintain a long legato line on the marimba, and to control a melody that weaves up and down between the top and bottom voices.
Duration: 3 minutes
-Pius Cheung

Number of players: 1
Difficulty: Intermediate

Instrumentation: Marimba (4.3 octave)