Encantada: A New Solo for Vibraphone

It seems that nowadays I just don't have much time to write pieces that I want to write. I have an ever-growing list of composition projects that I would love to work on (several solo marimba pieces, a slew of band pieces, and so on), but these pesky commissions keep getting in the way. I have several composer friends (and writer friend for that matter) that only write on commission and never write anything for themselves, so I really shouldn't complain. It is a really good position to be in. Every now and then, though, it is nice to break out on my own and write something for which I am not getting paid... even if it is just a short, pretty little vibraphone solo.

Encantada (meaning "enchanted" in Spanish) might be considered the child of my new Concerto for Vibraphone. The harmonic material in the opening bars of the solo are taken from the 1st movement of the concerto while the title of the piece is taken from the 2nd movement, "Enchanted Light' (or "La Luz Encantada"). As I mentioned in an earlier post about the concerto, much of the repertoire for vibraphone is jazz-influenced because of the instrument's history (see Lionel Hampton & Milt Jackson for examples). This definitely extends to the solo repertoire, so I sought to create more of a concert piece. This was the result:

Look inside

Encantada

listen

Encantada

The piece will be available from C. Alan Publications and all of your favorite music dealers (i.e. Steve Weiss Music & Lone Star Percussion) this summer.

Comments

[Shane Griffin]

Very cool new piece! Please update us when it is released, I'm very interested in learning it!

[Nathan]

Thanks, Shane! The piece will be released sometime in July from C. Alan Publications.