Zach Newsom Ideally you want to tackle pieces that are just above your skill level. So if it would take you a year to fully learn...it’s probably too hard for you. That being said, there’s also great value in learning a piece as great as this. It forces you to get better at marimba, and at being a musician in general. Jisu did a wonderful job with this, I imagine she spent more than an hour a day on it though. Doubtful it took a year, probably closer to 2-3 months if that.

This was a year long process for me. A piece I keep in my repertoire to this day. Well worth it!

@@user-fl6jf4pn2o I agree with this. I tried learning velocities and variations on a lost love when I was in high school. As a junior in college, I was able to read through variations on a lost love in a couple of weeks or so. Velocities is definitely still a work on progress, but I’ve been able to read it much more efficiently. I also wanted to play through Tompkins’ March, but a year ago, it felt impossible, but this year I learned it in an hour l. It’s all because I took the time to learn other pieces that pushed me past my current level with the goal to learn different pieces and I’ve been blessed to have teachers that know what piece would push me past my comfort zone so to speak

MetalSoHard of m

well yeah, sort of. I've been a percussionist for a little less than 3 years. I've mostly been doing snare drum, and that's about it. I've gotten quite good, managing to learn a lot of dci and wgi pieces via transcriptions me and some of the people on snare science made, but I suck at mallets. I've recently been getting into four mallets and I've learned basic mark ford pieces like Kain and White Hollow. If you could direct me to stuff that I probably wouldn't know because of how new I am that is harder than this, that'd be wonderful :)

Don't be deceived into thinking that this isn't a very difficult piece, because it is! It's just not one of the "staples" in the marimba literature. Check out Merlin by Andrew Thomas, Reflections on the Nature of Water by Jacob Druckman, Velocities by Joseph Schwantner, Khan Variations by Alejandro Vinão, or 3 moves for marimba by Paul Lansky. Those are sure to blow your mind, as they are some of the marimba masterworks :)

Devin FitzGerald Northern Lights absolutely is one of the staples of marimba rep.

Northern Lights is most certainly a staple for marimba rep, and it's definitely very difficult. Any experienced percussionist would understand that with all the phrasing and sound quality that has to go into playing this piece well in it's entirety, it is definitely "advanced."

Definitely difficult as far as marimba goes. It's up there with Libertango.

AaronGrooves totally agree. What a constructive comment ! More people should be like you

Hey Aaron, been watching your vids for a few years and been enjoying them. I'm going to have to totally disagree about her phrasing and voicing. Perhaps you were listening through sub par speakers? Could you link a specific time in the video you were feeling this? When I hear her play this piece, she is phrasing very macro, as in she is feeling the larger phrasing and pushing things through a much bigger picture. She isn't focused so much on shaping smaller phrases. This is extremely effective in allowing us to feel large sweeping motions of the piece. And letting the natural decay of the marimba provide a wonderful sustain. She has fire and passion and this in communicated very well through her performance. I also thought the mallet selection was pretty spot on. Sure they don't speak well at the top of the marimba, but if they did, the bottom of the marimba would sound too harsh. I've heard this piece many times and I don't think I've heard a better performance. Feel free to link one if there is one you like better!

@@Marimbalogy Going to have to jump and disagree with you on this Marimbalogy. I think the mallet selection is actually holding her back on this, plenty of Vic Firth Mallets even that work better for Northern Lights, Van Sices work alot better for less expansive works that are rhythm focused. But in the end, she had to record this for a video in maybe 10 takes which is insanely hard so lots of music moments will be lost, it isn't her fault though, recording VIDEO is just way harder than recording just audio. Here are the top recordings to check out that take the phrasing a bit less rigidly. She-E-Wu's flagship. Janis Potter's Album Closer. Kevin Bobo has one of the best but you wont find that on youtube. GStouts performance another hard to find one. Bill Mersch who commissioned the works. The millions of times I have heard this at the PASIC Marimba Competitions from 2008-2018 I am sure can be found somewhere, some amazing and now famous players in those lists.

​@@percussionnow5982 Our perception of the mallet selection is not going to be authentic because even with the best mics, how it sounds for the audience and how the mics pick it up are VERY different. For example, I generally use softer mallets when micing closely because it adds some harshness to the attack that wasn't noticeable in the performance space. That said, I think we're being unnecessarily critical of this performance. If her interpretation doesn't "do it for you" musically that is fine, but you can't deny that it is very musical and expressive even if it's not to your personal taste. If you ask any of those other soloists what they thought of this performance, I'd venture to say that think it's great.

@@Marimbalogy Well yeah we are being overly critical of it, but that to me is the whole point of different recordings. Why not just take the original recordings done by the commissioner and player the piece is dedicated to and stop there. Also we can assume it is done by a great player because it is on a VF spotlight, but we cannot just blindly applaud every player that puts their music out there without at least a bit of critique, I sure wouldn't have wanted to compete in a marimba competition where the judges told me AMAZING PERFECT NEXT (3rd place). Vic Firth has alot of reach but that doesn't mean all of their posts are the best recordings, the must listen to, and the academic community go to music selection. Different academic approaches are what make for the best recordings and competitions and judgement make for the best music, sometimes the best music isn't the most digestable either (opinion)

She’s around 5’9” I’d guess. She’s a bit taller than me and I’m 5’7” I know that doesn’t help you now but there’s that bit of info 😂

Pretty sure they're the Robert Van Sice, don't know what hardness - maybe 124s (Med-soft) from the look. I didn't look closely, but she may be playing with a graduated set. I have a set of RVSs (125, Mediums) - they're easily my favorite mallet set. I love the way they're weighted. They're my go-to practice set.

I played this piece and found that 123s are pretty spot on with what Jisu is using on this recording. 124s have too much bite, but you could substitute the top mallet with a 124 and still get a nice sound.

If you play the video in full screen on 0.25 speed, you can see the labels on the mallets (they're all 124s)

@@fuzzylightning she's probably using 124s because of the acoustics of the hall, and would normally use 123s in a smaller room

The newer 124s have more "give" and sound fantastic for this piece!

Newer Robert Van Sice series. Newer ones are light grey, older ones are dark grey.

Joe Smith unfortunately no this piece goes down to that low D

Who has a 4.6 octave marimba? Lol

The piece only goes to a low F.

That's what I was wondering

I personally love the way she finished

No.

its stevens .-.

it’s stevens but she is holding mallets 1 and 4 with her pinky finger not her ring finger

It's modified Stevens

Hecka D literally not true. it’s just stevens.

It looks like Stevens grip, but she closes and turns her hands in at some parts or at certain intervals too, which more resembles Musser. It isn't uncommon for people to combine aspects of both grips. Mark Ford has refered to this sorta hybrid grip as just Musser-Stevens when you use Musser grip with elements of Stevens technique. I do not know Jisu Jung personally, so I do not know how she perceives her own grip and what she would say she uses. Btw, she's totally holding the outside mallets(1 and 4) with 2 fingers.

Carina Chan A decent place to start would be to look up "4 mallet marimba grip" and the first couple links should give you something to get started with

Check out "Method of Movement" by Leigh Howard Stevens and "4 Mallet Marimba Playing" by Nancy Zeltsman :)

You won't regret it. Playing with four mallets is way easier than with two. Well, that's logic. Two is easier than one !

I auditioned for a group called the Bluecoats and they probably had the best and easiest explanation of it. What you do is you hold one mallet with your pinky and ring finger wrapping them almost all the way around, leaving an inch to an inch and half hanging out the back. Then, place the other mallet at the base of the thumb at a point where, when resting on the first joint behind your pointer finger’s nail that it wont fall out of your hand, then place your middle finger on the back of that mallet. Take your thumb and hold the mallet between your thump and pointer finger making a lower case t keeping your pointer finger slightly bent. Don’t have too much tension, the grip should be firm but not white knuckled. Hope this helped

caleb benton are you talking of the Gary Burton grip ? My first teacher taught me another grip and it was tiring and painful. Fortunately I met a marimba player who told me that no one played like this anymore. I took a few days to learn the Burton grip and it was a big relief ! Some marimbists hold the stick differently between right hand and left hand cause you need more distance apart for the basses. That's the grip Jean Geoffroy, and many great players seem to use.

People can still have an opinion even if they don't play the piece. You think judges at percussion and band competitions have played all the music being performed in the competition? No, they haven't. However, they can still make an opinion because it is just that...an opinion.

that's right. that was my opinion and that's yours. you kinda wasted time typing, lol.

y4ruhate? Nope, I didn’t waste my time. I was just sharing my opinion :)

haha, well. if i can paraphrase socrates, just because you have an opinion doesn't mean it's worth a shit, haha.

y4ruhate? No need to be disrespectful. I am simply trying to speak with you. That is very unnecessary.

What if I do anyway? Arranging by ear is something after all...

Research Eric Ewazen...

+Sarek Gutierrez y, thanks

Sarek Gutierrez there's probably excellent compositions by the man, this one just doesn't get to me like a Bach or a Japanese composer's

D-Cube Productions I agree

Lol i strongly disagree😂

No, you would need at least a 4.5 range +