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Classical music on vibe

Yanych 3 January 2009

Hi everyone,
I plan to use the vibraphone especially for classical music. I'll be happy to listen any comments about my first record:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZG1NXKsePY

Comments

tonymiceli Sat, 01/03/2009 - 21:54

i thought the piece was cool, i did think there was a lot of ringing with it all, which doesn't sound characteristic of bach, but maybe that's your interpretation. i did your stage presence!! do more!!

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Tony Miceli
s k y p e: tjazzvibe
i c h a t: tonymiceli
tony@tonymiceli.com

John Keene Sun, 01/04/2009 - 12:23

I LOVED the second piece on the video, and it really held my attention. The enjoyed the first piece as well, although I did notice the pedal sustain I wouldn't really know how else to approach it on vibraphone at that tempo.

I agree with Nico's comment on the "future" thread about the use of the vibraphone in classical music. I would really like to hear more of this type of performance.

vibeman27 Sun, 01/04/2009 - 16:14

I enjoyed his presentation very much. I did not find the sustain a distraction. We must not forget that the sustain is one of the main characteristics of the vibraphone in the first place. The vibraphone is not a marimba nor a piano, so shouldn't we expect sustain so that the vibraphone's characteristics stand out??

Yanych Sun, 01/04/2009 - 12:11

I'm sorry but I don't know English too well, could you explain to me (in other words) what it means "a lot of ringing"? Sound like bells?

tonymiceli Sun, 01/04/2009 - 19:51

yes ringing like diiinnnnngggg dooonnnngggggggg but all together. not enough pedal, notes play together too much. that's what that means.

how is that. do you understand?

good playing!!

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Tony Miceli
s k y p e: tjazzvibe
i c h a t: tonymiceli
tony@tonymiceli.com

Marie-Noëlle Sun, 01/04/2009 - 16:13

Beautiful Yan!
We had more heard classical music on marimba so far, but that vibes interpretation is great and brilliant!
Spacibo!
MN

Yanych Mon, 01/05/2009 - 06:36

1) You pamper me, giving a good reference to my playing. I need more practice.
2) This is one of my goals, to get a marimba to move its ass and give the place the other ;)

Marie-Noëlle Mon, 01/05/2009 - 07:53

1) One aim of this site is to express how one receives the music. It's not just about flattering the musicians, but being sincere! ;o)...

After a few more listenings I would join John's approach: the first part seems more specific to play on vibes, due to the sustained notes. The interpretation gets more personal there and let the player and the instrument speak: I guess Forberger didn't leave any visionary advice on the use of a vibes pedal to be played... some three and half centuries after him! :o)

The second part of the piece sounds closer from the spirit of the original tune and its age: notes played in "suite" sound like they could be played in a comparable ways on an organ or a marimba (I love its fluidity!).

2) That'd be cool to hear you play on a marimba... but please don't be too tough with your vibes! Remember on which site you are writing! ;o)

I saw that you already know Gustavo. Did you check Theodor Milkov? Surely. But if ever you don't know him yet, I'm sure you will love his playing!

http://www.vibesworkshop.com/video/amazing-marimba-player/patty/112908
http://www.vibesworkshop.com/video/one-more-oh-man/tonymiceli/112908

MN

Yanych Mon, 01/05/2009 - 09:03

Of course, Theodor Milkov is cool, with technical skill and musically. But its only two voice polyphony. And if we ask him to perform on the marimba three or four voice counterpoint, I am sure the result will not be so impressive. And this is not because he was unable to play, but because marimba is not capable, - all voices will be at the same stroke. If I want to play 3-4 voices fuga on marimba I have only two way to do that: 1) to use a fast tempo, 2) take different sound mallets in set.

tonymiceli Mon, 01/05/2009 - 09:26

i wouldn't think anyone is pampering you. and i also don't think there's no reason to be mean or harsh on any player anytime. so i would never say anything terrible to someone especially someone i don't know. i know most of the people here and if they said they liked it then they liked it.

we all need more practice and we all know what we need to work on really. i think the important thing is to play and record and post, put your stuff out there.

if you sounded bad, then nobody would say anything. so we think you sound good, and i think notes ring together too much.

i think if someone wants VERY serious criticism then they must add a coach or teacher to all this. i think it takes a lot of energy to be VERY critical of someone and help someone make a plan for growth. That usually requires someone who has much much more experience than you and will sit with you for a long time and go through everything in detail! then the both of you work out the details over a long period of time. posting on the net usually can help you see if you're on your way.

what does everyone else think. good topic this is turning into, 'posting on the net looking for criticism and help'.

so keep practicing and keep putting up videos!!

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Tony Miceli
s k y p e: tjazzvibe
i c h a t: tonymiceli
tony@tonymiceli.com

Gustavo (not verified) Tue, 01/06/2009 - 12:36

Gustavo Agatiello

Yanych, I haven't had time to find the score yet, but I've already given you my thoughts on your Froberger attempt. I think I mentioned we have different musical approaches. I use classical music as a sort of learning/practice routine, to absorb and use the techniques when I play other things; to build up my improv techniques. You said you'd like to specialize in playing classical music on the vibe, which is fine, I respect that. I think you have good instinct and you project a nice sound on the vibe. I do think you need to think more like a pianist rather than a marimba player. Go through the score again and look for the cut-off on each note, particularly on the slow (and more challenging) part of the toccata. Pedal the longer values and apply mallet and hand dampening to the rest.

I like your choice of music. This is something I'm sure J.S.Bach would have laid his hands on at some point, as Froberger was a disciple of Girolamo Frescobaldi, and J.S.Bach (is said) admired and studied Frescobaldi a lot, as well as other italian and spanish musicians of that generation.

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