Mills-Three European Folksongs (SP)-M (3 players)

While helping a college-age friend with sightsinging exercises, I stumbled across these three tunes in her sightsinging book. The French and Spanish tunes were both originally cheerful little ditties, to the disgust of my friend, who has a marked antipathy toward major keys. So, to appease her and demonstrate the elasticity of the melodies, I improvised a minor key version of each, accompanying my voice on the guitar.

I liked the results (of the music, not my voice) enough that I decided to set these tunes, plus the already-minor English melody, for three players on one 5-octave marimba. I did not retain the "everything minor" motif, however: for those who care, the French tune is set in the Hypomixolydian mode, the Spanish melody generally flirts with the strict natural minor, and the English tune has been altered to the Dorian mode. I have tried to use a number of idiomatic effects unique to the marimba, which remains one of my favorite instruments to play or hear. I have also tried to make the work accessible without being too predictable or harmonically sedate. I hope you'll enjoy the work, or at least refrain from throwing things at the performers—they had nothing to do with the writing of the music.

-Kit Mills


Number of Players: 3
Level of Difficulty: Grade 4
Instrumentation:

Player I:Marimba

Player II:Marimba

Player III:Marimba

Composer and Percussionist Kit Mills received a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Wheaton College (IL), where he studied composition with Drs. Howard Whitaker and Daniel Sommerville, and orchestral percussion with Dr. Kathleen Kastner.  In recent years, he has also studied drum set technique with jazz drummer Fred Taylor and fusion drummer Garey Williams.  Mr. Mills maintains a teaching studio (percussion, composition) on Whidbey Island, Washington, and also teaches and presents clinics throughout the northern Puget Sound area.