5 Tips For Writing Your First Marimba Solo!

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Thank you so much for watching today's video and for supporting last week's livestreamed recital 'Song and Dance'! In the next week I'm going to be releasing performance videos from that recital, as well as my brand new 5.0 octave marimba duo 'Meet Again' - so make sure you hit the 'Subscribe' button if you haven't already to keep up to date! #TheStudioFamily

[@kayleon]

Adam Tan what's the shirt

[@Andriale]

Did you just say Robert Oetomo is a Studio VIP? 😮

[@aiden1367]

lmao i just start writing my first one and this shows up in my feed 😂 you always come in clutch adam

[@aureliaharrison5345]

Exactly!

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Ahahaha I'm glad I came in time!!

[@bconfetti2786]

That’s Like His THING

[@EpicProvider]

i'm looking to get a marimba but i will have to remove my bed to fit it. so i don't have to drive 1 hour to practice on my works marimba.

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Mmmm I have the same problem at home :(

[@dantehernandez5818]

Just sleep on your marimba, easy solution =D

[@Fangis]

What’s a bed?

[@thomashendricks5810]

NEW VIDEO! This is great! When you said “any one can write music” I immediately thought of the Pixar movie Ratatouille “any one can cook” idk, thought that was funny... Also your music just got to my house today!! I’m so excited to play, but I’m on spring break so it’s going to be ten days until I can practice on a marimba (absolute torture haha). Also I just got Front Ensemble section leader for my marching band next year! Thanks for these videos, absolutely love them! Keep it up!

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Ahahahha I love that movie! Thank you man, hope you enjoy the pieces and congratulations on being section leader!

[@marimba_man1]

Oh my gosh!! Thank you for this video, I’ve always wanted to write a piece on Marimba, but never wanted to fail at it. This video is the definition of perfect timing. Keep up the great work!!

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Thank you man! Hope you get started asap ;)

[@CaseyCangelosi]

fun topic, thanks Adam (and thanks for the shout-out!) :)

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Thanks for watching Casey, means a lot! Always keen to shout out you :)

[@Uncle_Yam]

I feel like I have such an easy time starting a piece, but I have a hard time keeping it going. I seem to always veer off of the core theme/tone/idea/key of the piece and have a hard time looping it back together in a non-cliche or non-cheesy way.

[@MarimbaMaurice]

Thanks for the tips. I always wanted to write my own marimba solo but I'm still at the stage you mentioned where nothing sounded good/worked. I'll apply this tips as soon as I try again :) It's really nice to see this kind of channel. Since I started with my marimba videos there seem to be a lot more marimba channels on KZbin which I find amazing!

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Keep on trying man! Thank you for watching :)

[@jackied.v.carson6059]

What are the odds that this video came out as I literally just finished my first marimba duo!!!!

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Yay! Hope to see it :)

[@seancaviness1065]

I’m 14 and I wrote a marimba duet. It was a long time to get one part and I realized I could put another part with it. Thanks for the tips. I will try to add them before I make it open to public.

[@JosePerez-rt1kb]

Sean Caviness, I've been researching into building marimbas and discovered a great resource at Delfords magic plan (check it out on google)

[@thedobeymaster2647]

Just a thought but I sometimes recognize pieces based on harmony and not melody necessarily. (which makes me mashup pieces in my head) so do you approach writing harmonically? Or is it largely melodic or programmatic.

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Ahhh yes harmony is important too - I believe that harmony is dictated by the melodic direction and without the melody (even if it is not super obvious) it is hard to find a pleasing harmonic structure for me ahaha... so yes still melodic!

[@erichbrady4464]

I dissagree with the first point. I think that it could be a good idea to have a non-musical idea, but it's not needed. I think that we, as a society, are losing the idea of just having music for the purpose of music.

[@AdamTanPercussion]

This is a fair point! However I feel like no matter how non-musical you make music it will still have some sort of non-musical idea behind it, so if you're stuck on how to start writing music it's a good start :)

[@Faebiebot]

This helped me with my compositional work. I don't actually own a marimba, but it's such a beautiful instrument, I'm excited to use it in my future work

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Glad it helped and I agree, it's my favourite :)

[@jacobdavidson2242]

Hi Adam, I'm a junior in high school and I'm the principal percussionist at my school. I've been looking into colleges and stuff, and I'm just not sure how I'd stack up against other people outside my school. To give an idea of my level of learning so far, I've just begun to dive into four mallet literature and I still have trouble with things like two Mexican dances, but I've almost finished bachianas bresilieras no. 5. Do you have any advice for someone considering pursuing percussion in college as a major? (Also Moon, Path, and Two Lullabies just came in the mail last night!!! Can't wait to learn them!)

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Thank you for purchasing the combo!!! It's okay make sure you take lots of time getting the techniques down, that was something I wish I did... and if you want to pursue it just keep practising! You will get better automatically :)

[@robpercussion5]

How do you afford that enormous beautiful space?

[@raghavsurya4229]

Ayy another one that we all needed. God, where would I be without this channel. 3 cheers for Adam!

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Ahahaha you are too kind, thank you so much :)

[@laurenmcewen4155]

Hey, Adam! Congrats on 9,000 subs and your new piece! I’m currently learning to play Stevens Grip, and was curious if you could give me some advice on working on my rotations. I love watching your videos, you have a great sense of humor. Any advice you have for me would be greatly appreciated! Thank you. :)

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Thank you Lauren! Haven't quite reached 9K yet but getting there... definitely isolate your rotations at a very slow tempo, focusing on relaxing your idnependent strokes. If you need any more help try any of my exercises at a VERY slow tempo! www.adamtanpercussion.com/download :) Good luck!!

[@zane2148]

Thank you for this great video I have been wondering about how I should approach composing my own piece thank you Adam.

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Glad it helped! Thank you for watching :)

[@ermadianne]

Hi! I just finished my marimba piece and I'm just wondering if you could check it. I'm a new music composition student from the Philippines. I'm only concerned about notation and awkward intervals or anything that is impossible. Hope you can help me!

[@aureliaharrison5345]

Adam! I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. It’s like you read my mind. I actually remembered an idea from today that I otherwise would have forgotten by tomorrow. Also, I love the name of the duo and can’t wait to hear it!

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Ooooh get writing!! Thank you for your support :)

[@sardellosound]

You should do a video breaking down Land! There’s so many stickings :/

[@AdamTanPercussion]

True! I think most people have already broken it down though ahaha, I reckon if you slow it down you can easily find them :)

[@bconfetti2786]

Aight it’s 9:00.pm time to start writing

[@monkeybull445]

Thanks for pronouncing my last name correctly! Most people don't pick up on the Germanic pronunciation

[@AdamTanPercussion]

It was just a guess but I'm glad it was correct! Thank you for your support :)

[@brandonwaters642]

Hi Adam! Loved the video! As an amateur composer, it was great to hear some tips for marimba writing! A while back, I wrote a piece inspired by you and Therese, called “Drifting Earth”, and I recently made some revisions based on your video. (www.noteflight.com/scores/view/3ac94a90d53badd56165ce597231b732567526a3) Can’t wait for Meet Again and all the rest of your content!

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Thank you man, means a lot for you to write a piece based on us! I can't seem to be able to access the piece, is the link wrong?

[@brandonwaters642]

Oh looks like I didn't have it shared publicly, should be working now.

[@brandonwaters642]

www.noteflight.com/scores/view/3ac94a90d53badd56165ce597231b732567526a3

[@timster4328]

What is the best website/software to use for writing music?

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Everyone has different tastes! I like Sibelius because I've used it for years in school etc, but some people prefer Finale, or Musescore etc... it is up to you :)

[@elijahshina4296]

Can you review the malletech MB series?

[@AdamTanPercussion]

I don't own any MBs at the moment! I remember Malletech said a year ago they would send me some but it never happened ahahahaha

[@thomasnguyen5639]

Ouch to those other composers in Perth 😓

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Ahahahaha wooooopsssss

[@erkin8657]

3:30 full concert where?

[@benrolfe8490]

7:11 is def yellow

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Yup LOL

[@lctstudios0101]

n i c e e e e e e e e e

[@AdamTanPercussion]

t h a n k s s s s s s

[@brockfreeland7115]

NEEDED THIS

[@fatboydylan228]

I love you

[@fatboydylan228]

Eww that’s gay

[@biggysmoovemusic7777]

I have written some Percussion Ensembles piece if you would like to hear it and I'm also in the process of writing another Percussion Ensemble piece if you want to hear it.

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Sure thing man! Send me an email at [e-mail]

[@biggysmoovemusic7777]

Ok give me one moment

[@biggysmoovemusic7777]

I’ve emailed them to you. Let me know what you think.

[@tealorlee]

Hey Adam! Are you going to review the 0gravity mars mallets soon? The look gorgeous! I'm eager to hear how they sound. :)

[@uneedmusic6887]

Taylor Vosper they are trash I ordered them a while back terrible service and terrible quality just buy round sounds for a little more

[@noahgormanmusic1843]

Symphony quite the contrary. Taylor Vosper I have a graduated mars set and they make a consistently good sound. They're articulate across the entire marimba (even at the extreme ends) and for those who appreciate it they're a bit on the weightier side.

[@AdamTanPercussion]

I think they're going to send them to me some time :)

[@ZacharyCookComposer]

Would you like to hear my marimba solo?

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Sure thing man! Send it to my email at [e-mail] :)