Until Dawn - Marimba Solo By Arnor Chu

Sheet music available at arnormusic.com
Composed and Performed by Arnor Chu, 2019 (Age 18)
Recorded and Produced by Arnor Chu
Arnor Chu Music: / arnormusic
arnormusic.com
About the piece:
Until Dawn is the first composition for 5 octave marimba that I’ve written and was the winner of the 2019 Percussive Arts Society International Composition Contest. For me, the piece is a departure from my previous works, which I consider as side projects and never serious. I have no formal education in composition, so entering a composition competition marks the end of music as a hobby, and the ‘dawn’ of studying music seriously going into my first year of university.
Recorded With:
Audio-Technica AT2035
Sony Alpha A6300
Nikon 35mm f/1.8, 24mm f/2.8 Ai-S
Adams Artist Classic Rosewood Marimba (5.5 Octave)
Vic Firth Robert Van Sice Mallets M122, M123, M124
@Boston University College of Fine Arts
#Marimba #Solo

[@belle8360]

okay so u know how the whole marimba gig is just making hard things look easy? well you sir.... GOT MY ASS because i’m playing through this, the first like 2 lines are a breeze and then i try adding in the melody and then am like “oh shii different sticking” and now i’m just watching this and am STUNNED because you stiLL make it look easy and i cannot.

[@stevenaestrada1163]

😳hehe yeah

[@22scams32]

@@stevenaestrada1163 your probably not still working on this solo but it looks like he almost treats them as chords instead of individual notes

[@ThouBeanyOne]

actually i got baited

[@AdamTanPercussion]

Congratulations on winning the comp man, sounds awesome!!

[@ArnorMusic]

Thanks Adam, I’m really looking forward to your new piece too!!

[@christopherpinckard176]

Yes I can not wait for that new piece from Adam and also anything released by you two is always so beautiful and complex and moving thank you for doing what you do.

[@canadiankazuman156]

ITS ADAM

[@manassehjohnson9029]

My eyes widened when I read the description and realized you had no formal education in composition. You have made me want to try to make a Marimba piece myself.

[@jacobhughes574]

Hey just wanted to let you know that your're a nerd.

[@manassehjohnson9029]

@@jacobhughes574 :(

[@charlieandme9207]

@@jacobhughes574 imagine not being a nerd

[@timmitny6310]

@@jacobhughes574 Nerds are cool. Especially nerds who can appreciate good music like this.

[@thomascrosthwait4842]

@@timmitny6310 hell yeah

[@snow1529]

2 years since i found this marimba solo and it still stand as my favorite solo composition for marimba. You are the next big thing man.

[@WESPN92]

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to this. So beautiful. The chords, the story it tells, the wave of emotions. Thank you for this. Incredible performance

[@samebaugh7337]

Me too, Arnor is damn good at writing music

[@laey4079]

這首聽了心情莫名的會變好， 而且有種不畏艱難勇往直前的感覺！ 前半段小調（是小調嗎？）讓人感覺身處奇幻世界，而且漸漸感覺像是被阻攔，正在對抗什麼的感覺；後半段感覺像是斬斷荊棘，黎明到來充滿了希望，變得輕快激昂起來；然後最後終歸平靜，細細品味一路的冒險。半夜讀書聽真的可以一直循環播放耶！❤️

[@patelmike3535]

Now That's What I Call Music

[@notyingyangbros]

That melody in the middle is absolutely amazing! And oh my god that left hand is so crazy busy but doesn't stick out. The concept that if I didn't play marimba I wouldn't have noticed anything was up while you were flying around the marimba like that is insane.

[@DesertRat1231]

I love this piece so much, the second half gets me every time. This could be expanded into its own full band arrangement, with movements expanding on the melodic ideas.

[@ohok180]

I like the slightly eerie undertone of this peice in the beggining. it's so cool how composers can put things like that into music.(atleast that's what I got from it) I wanna learn this some day

[@jaddenapellido4891]

You this song kind of encapsulates my depression as a whole, starting as an innocent child and things start to spiral down hill or become more rambunctious. Eventually leading to darker tones symbolizing the struggles and concluding with a glimpse of hope

[@jazzman1954]

There is always hope!

[@fdeleon720]

This man is flying around the keyboard.

[@heymikkimouse]

woooo amazing! can’t wait to see more in the future

[@goldenafro4791]

This is incredible, keep it up!

[@emmasuttles2322]

you flew around that thing!!! this is beautiful. well done.

[@thunderdrum22]

Probably one my favorite marimba pieces that I have ever heard! Keep it up my dude!

[@AdamS32828]

A beautiful composition, and you play so incredibly musically too 🙏🏼

[@langadubazana]

Oh wow! Amazing! Superb rythmic motifs and abilities!!!

[@DrummerChristianHoffe]

Amazing, Arnor. Making music is just great!😊

[@andrewhall2927]

Beautiful piece, great mallet choice, all I need in life

[@stokeleythekid5754]

thnaks for making this i was struggling to find a solo and now i have thank you

[@nvire]

seeing videos like these makes me really miss playing the marimba, great stuff brother keep it up

[@longflame4414]

Such an incredible, beautiful piece, sends shivers down my spine

[@anthony.e.b]

Great marimba playing ! The music is beautiful.

[@aprilcox871]

Best pitched percussion instrument, great job Arnor!

[@madisondenbrock7812]

I always forget how huge of a range marimba has. Sounds awesome!

[@bryanchacon5273]

This is gonna be a must learn for me!!!

[@Sizalyth]

Absolutely amazing

[@vcam1515]

Wow this is awesome!!

[@TheJeffBridgman]

Absolutely beautiful.

[@SingaporeUkuleleRevival]

Soothing & beautiful composition

[@RaeannPeck]

Thank you! Beautiful!

[@ashwiley86]

Absolutely beautiful

[@initiatedcrown]

good for you man! well done!!!!!! well done!

[@daltatron]

Man I'm gonna have a hard time picking between this and Seeking Paradise for my solo next year!

[@aaroncristofolrubio]

Great performance, awesome composition, congratulations.

[@inesidiomas2785]

Very nice piece and performance! Congrats!

[@nehemiahchristopher2058]

Imma play this as a solo for my senior year wow I have a lot of work what a nice song play by a amazing artist

[@MichaelMezaMusic7]

great piece and excellent performance!

[@howie.danielwoods2965]

I dont know how people disliked this lol this is beautiful, great job!!

[@jacktheyak1325]

Amazing

[@sherry.w]

teary eyes

[@mayawkahot]

After dawn, all the struggles and contradictions melted away and we started from scratch.

[@saltcitysneakers6179]

best instrument, no cap

[@calliehannah3937]

the sound of the marimba compliments the piece beautifully!! it sounds like something that would come from a studio ghibli soundtrack, well done!

[@lqmbams5156]

came here after googling for marimba from yt shorts, one of the best thing ive ever done

[@heatherspivey1693]

going from ghost garden to this is NOT easy but watching you makes me wanna keep trying 😼

[@ShantanuRoy4141]

Wow

[@PassingMarimbist]

学校の友達が演奏してて素敵な曲だなと思って聴いています。この曲がとても好きです。

[@Des-q]

Do you think you could make a 4.3 adaptation to this solo? I'm sure many people would love to play this but it's not really an option for us.

[@Reactions4You]

I’m playing it on a 4.3 just got to invert some thing, and you can’t tell the difference

[@Vosian]

Yo I’m not sure if you’re still looking for this but he just uploaded a 4.3 adaptation of this piece today ::)

[@theperidotboss9209]

well, I can't do that...So, great Job!

[@mkliu1882]

非常棒！

[@getbalmed3376]

*applause*

[@noahphinney6993]

I'm learning this now as a freshman in highschool and it's definitely extremely hard as expected but still really fun and cool to play. Thank you so much for this, it sounds amazing. Keep up the great work👍

[@rambunctant556]

How did it go? Thinking about playing it

[@Myopus2]

Freshman huh, did you learn it?

[@artsandstuff9159]

I can’t really see a freshman play, possibly a senior or possibly a junior, and that that’s if they hell of practice. So, if you say that you did this song as a freshman… then your doing places to world of a percussionist!

[@Myopus2]

currently learning it right now, wish me luck. ima need it 😂

[@artsandstuff9159]

Good luck 🫡

[@ricartllopis3859]

Saludos desde Guatemala cuna de la Marimba

[@mythicalmatt8300]

I'm only in middle school for my second year of Percussion but i'm starting to try to learn

[@trevorjamesconsideracion1982]

I’m getting Zelda vibes for some reason. Nice work!

[@Agatemantis]

I'm going to do this for solo ensemble :) beautiful piece. ❤️ 😊

[@Agatemantis]

fun fact, I bought the music and still haven't learned it 😂

[@willfowler8540]

You learned it yet?

[@Agatemantis]

I still haven’t no 😂

[@willfowler8540]

@@Agatemantis lol

[@Agatemantis]

You want to know another fun fact… still haven’t learned it and idk where I put the music 😭 😂

[@belle8360]

wish me luck! imma try and learn this bad boy by february for i&e 😩✌🏼

[@belle8360]

^^^aHa i typed this and accidentally bought drift away because i don’t read sksksk it’s okay though because now i have fOuR out of the however many pieces by you, and i will with nO hesitation give you all my money, because you are living my dream and everything i hope to be doing in the near future. also i noticed the NAVER email... ahhhh are u korean bc that’s dope!! me 2 c:

[@Adam.Clark.]

god, I'm really tempted to skip a group 1 solo for my high school sophomore year to play this

[@rwbytheassassin9942]

I wanna play this so bad this year for the UIL comp but it saint on the list T_T

[@ArnorMusic]

Rwby The Assassin I’m not from Texas so I had no idea what the UIL list was- unfortunately it looks like it will be a while before I can get it on there :( I will try, though!

[@rwbytheassassin9942]

@@ArnorMusic I'll probably just learn it for the heck of it I freaking love this solo so much.

[@Josh-uq8yx]

If this could be in the prescribed music list for texas before june 1st that would be optimal :D

[@ArnorMusic]

I’m not from Texas so I just looked up what that is, and unfortunately the submission period has passed for this year. Sorry!

[@Josh-uq8yx]

@@ArnorMusic Damn, thanks though, ill see if i could play this onr next year then

[@crashpandercoot]

@@ArnorMusic what about this year?

[@ArnorMusic]

@@crashpandercoot Unfortunately, it looks like the next review for percussion isn't until 2023 according to the website :( Unless there's another way, it might be a while.

[@luvvjocelyn.3]

@@ArnorMusic this piece is amazing, i’m a sophomore learning this piece and i can’t wait to perform it senior year when i 100% have it perfected. This piece is truly why i will continue to learn and have fun with music on marimba! such a beautiful instrument

[@johnwallace1138]

Im very impressed. Show me more.

[@seongeunvanessakim]

한국분이시네요! 저도 작곡가이면서 타악기연주해요 반가워요! 곡이 너무 좋아서 저도 연주해보고 싶어졌어요:) 구독하고가요👍

[@ArnorMusic]

감사합니다, 반가워요! 사실 전 한국인 아닌데요...ㅋㅋㅋ 이제 미국에 타악기 전공하고 있는데도, 한국에 너무너무 가고싶어요 :)

[@ualreadyknow78]

What mallets are you using, I have been looking for a new pair and these sound fantastic, also I am learning simple song right now and I absolutely looooove it.

[@ArnorMusic]

Thanks, I appreciate it! The mallets are in the description as always.

[@ILinTsai321]

好好聽！！！謝謝分享！！很棒的作品

[@ArnorMusic]

謝謝！

[@NyanKittyOtaku]

The last solo I played was Gitano by Alice Gomez, would this be a good piece to move on to? I love it :)

[@tanner1548]

Hey Arnor. Just curious (while watching this again). Is there any story behind the making of this piece? I mean, it sounds like when I listen to Thomas Bergersen stuff, like it goes with a film or story of some kind. (Honestly I could totally see it in a How to Train Your Dragon movie :D )

[@ChristopherSchiffermiller]

Beautiful, romantic and amazing skills for you or anyone to play this with two of those sticks in each hand. I would have a hard time with one in each hand and making clean contact lol. Thanks for the upload. Love Chris

[@Gordito43919]

I want to play the marimba

[@matthewlim5030]

2:41 😱😱😱

[@howie.danielwoods2965]

matthew lim that is my favorite part omg

[@josephf193]

1:52 is my favorite part

[@cecilio5343]

Possible transcription to a 4.3?

[@modernmarimba]

We love it! Keep it up. Hope you'll start composing for other instruments too...this music is expansive :)

[@finalequilibrium]

2:23 at 2x speed is crazyyy

[@zach_drums_ig2421]

I dont know if you still read any of these but would i be able to play this for my solo and ensemble at my highschool? Has it been put on the list of solos i could do? i live in texas for reference

[@allabuhera5487]

Good

[@NewGoldStandard]

This is the bee's knees, the biscuit's business and the proof of the pudding is in the tasting and this tastes hot.

[@josephokeefe2586]

Hey, love the price and was wondering how hard this would be to play if the only price I have played is yellow after the rain. It looks hard but learnable

[@ArnorMusic]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! As the composer of the piece and a percussion performance major, this piece was not easy, even for me. Unfortunately I would not recommend this piece for you as there are some deceptively tricky techniques that require a very strong foundation first. Best of luck!

[@fdeleon720]

Arnor Chu Music just bought this solo... very tricky stuff 🥵 I love it though!

[@ArnorMusic]

Frank Deleon Yeah, some parts are deceptively tricky! I spent maybe 3 months practising it after I wrote it before even attempting to record it- you can still hear some parts in this recording that don’t sound too hot...Thanks for your support and I hope you have a blast playing it!

[@irbomusic]

I just realized the microphones are pointed at the ceiling. I was wondering why this marimba sounds so ambient.

[@Z6D4C4]

They are actually pointed at the marimba.

[@Myopus2]

I have just finished learning this piece and it’s really great, but i noticed certain parts in the music are written slightly different. For example in the video he plays the left hand different in 3:41. Anybody have any advice for what to do?

[@fridamotions]

Love U

[@youngforeverbaby]

Wow masterpiece bro 🎉 can I sample a lil part of this bro ?

[@geometryman1476]

Awesome!!❤❤ I play marimba to. But I just need to know. Is this a wrong note? 3:55. I mean that B.

[@ArnorMusic]

Yes, either one is fine. Up to you!

[@merrittl3502]

ok so basically,,, I'm ordering this for college auditions

[@esauivy2746]

muy buena la rola me darias permiso de hacer un sample con un fragmento de tu cancion ???? plisss salud2

[@helgemeff5555]

[@sashaheadley8097]

For my own use: 25 at 0:50 50 at 1:52 98 at 3:42

[@rubarema6857]

Can I have a note for this piece .....?

[@ikishimq]

1:52

[@bmorrissey8076]

What mallets are you using? And are they staggered?

[@johnpeters2129]

This is the biggest gap I have ever seen 1.4k likes to 9 dislikes.

[@andrewnorris7699]

What would be good alternative mallets to the ones you used? I don’t think I want to pay $160 for three different pairs of mallets if I’m only going to use 4 of them. Would the M122 in the 1 and 2 position and M123 in the 3 and 4 positions work?

[@ArnorMusic]

I would recommend looking into some graduated sets in that case, there are a few different available. The Pius Cheung series comes to mind, and though I've never personally tried them, I'm sure they would be just fine.

[@christianshaffer3723]

I use WWB3 mallets for my marimba playing, hey are more on the expensive side but the sounds is superb. You can get either a nice warm feel for playing softly or if its a piece that involves more articulation it offers that too when you bite into the playing. Just a good overall set of mallets that will last you if you take care of them

[@danieldavis2049]

In terms of difficulty compared to something like Libertango where would you put this? I'm thinking about playing this but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

[@ArnorMusic]

I have played Eric Sammut’s arrangement of Libertango and I would say this piece is quite a bit more difficult in my opinion. I don’t know about other versions, though.

[@danieldavis2049]

@@ArnorMusic So I still got a ways to go huh? If you don't mind me asking, how would you rate both on a scale from 1-100 with 100 being the hardest piece ever created, and 1 being the c major scale?

[@ArnorMusic]

I wouldn't be able to answer that because difficulty is very subjective, all depending on the player's strengths and weaknesses-I mean, obviously I'm not a great performer, so it wouldn't be an objective assessment either. For me, I think the phrasing and expression are very straightforward for this piece; however, technical things like note accuracy, consistent sound quality and timing are what I struggled with the most. I actually spent a lot of time getting this in my hands (my own composition too...!) You can even hear some places in this recording where I struggled with these things, especially in the second half. I hope this helps somewhat.

[@danieldavis2049]

@@ArnorMusic It does, thanks for the reply!

[@ohok180]

Bruh I always bite of more than I can chew and I always stress myself out 😂. And this one is pretty difficult for me especially because it's in 6/8, 7/8 and I think I saw 8/8 in the music. I don't have a lot of experience with any of those. But im saving for a marimba to keep at home so I have all the time in the world to figure it out.

[@mooncraft4493]

3:00

[@mooncraft4493]

3:53

[@mooncraft4493]

2:42

[@darkking0727]

What sticks are those?

[@ohok180]

I bought this peice and I have a question. What is the bottom cleft called? It looks similar to bass but i've never even seen it before so idk what notes they are lol

[@ArnorMusic]

Haha that’s just a bass clef, just in the older style. No reason except I like it swirly :P

[@ohok180]

@@ArnorMusic ok lol. I 've never seen it written like that. I had to message my band director from when I was in highschool about it. Didn't even find it online. That's cool though. This is one of my favorite 4 mallet peices and the fact that you have no education in composition is amazing and inspiring. So bravo 👏👏👏👏. Also i'm relatively new to 4 mallets. Do you have some quick tips about this peice or in general that you can give?

[@christianshaffer3723]

@@ohok180 When it comes to 4 mallet playing by professor always said play everything as big as you can play it to build muscle memory, I just started playing 4 mallets 6 months ago so I am sure you have more experience with it but still, always nice to play everything nice and big

[@mooncraft4493]

2:39

[@ruski7668]

Is there a way you can play this on a 4.3 octave marimba?

[@ArnorMusic]

Unfortunately no, at least not without some major revisions. It is possible on a 4.5 octave, though.

[@ruski7668]

Arnor Chu Music Ah I see