Stout-Beads of Glass-M

One of Gordon Stout's most recent compositions for solo marimba, Beads of Glass, is a beautiful tapestry of tonal sounds for a five octave marimba. It's level of difficulty is comparable to Stout's Astral Dance. The work is about 8 minutes long, and provides the marimbist the chance to showcase the beautiful sounds of the marimba, mostly in the middle and low registers. It is dedicated to Leigh Howard Stevens, because the music was initially considered as material for a commission from Leigh for marimba solo and percussion quartet. As the work progressed however, it became clear that adding percussion was not appropriate for the nature of the music, and that it would be better suited for marimba alone.

This beautiful piece should become a favorite for marimbists who want to showcase the sound of the marimba and their musical artistry


Number of Players: 1
Difficulty: Grade 5
Instrumentation:
Player I: Marimba


GORDON STOUT (b.1952) is currently Professor of Percussion at the School of Music, Ithaca College, Ithaca, N.Y. A composer as well as percussionist who specializes on marimba, he has studied composition with Joseph Schwantner, Samuel Adler and Warren Benson, and percussion with James Salmon and John Beck.As a composer-recitalist he has premiered a number of his original compositions and works by other contemporary composers. Many of his compositions for marimba are published, and have already become standard repertoire for marimbists world-wide. His recordings are devoted not only to his own music, but also that of the general standard repertoire by important American composers.