Daughtrey-Songs of the Human Spirit (SP)-V/M

Commissioned by a consortium of performers and educators organized by John Kilkenny and Daniel Heagney, Songs of the Human Spirit is grouped into three sections of five solos each — Marimba + Marimba, Vibraphone + Vibraphone, and Vibraphone + Marimba. Each duet ranges in duration from 2 to 3 minutes and utilizes two or four mallets or, in the case of the vibraphone duet "Loneliness," a bass bow plus two mallets. Instead of attempting to create a sequential etude book, I aimed to provide a varied musical experience from solo to solo, exploring different techniques (percussive & compositional), moods/emotions, and ensemble challenges.

To give even more cohesiveness to the collection, I added titles to each solo, taken from the brilliant collection of essays "Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words" by David Whyte. I encourage you to pick up this book and absorb his poetic thoughts, if only to reflect on what it is to be human.
- Nathan Daughtrey

Number of players: 2
Difficulty: Intermediate

Instrumentation

Duets 1-5: Two Marimbas (4.3-octave & 5-octave)
Duets 6-10: Two Vibraphones (3-octave)
Duets 11-15: Vibraphone (3-octave) & Marimba (4.3-octave to 5-octave)