Western Orchestra vs Marimba Band

When I heard “Clair de Lune” for the first time a week ago, it was an orchestral version performed by an orchestra with strings, winds and percussion. I listened to a few solo versions, with instruments like the piano and harp, but I still liked the full orchestra version the best. The orchestra opened “Clair de Lune” with their upper woodwinds, and oboe, which depicted the floating feeling. As the piece entered section B, the part with the augmenting and diminishing chords and the strings were being added and created a push and pull feeling. When the piece reached its peak, and the arpeggios started again, the upper woodwinds like Clarinet, Flute, and Oboe, and the Violins, once again depicted the floating image. On the other hand, “Fast Forward” was performed with only percussion instruments. The marimbas that “Fast Forward” was performed on were made out of wood, and pipes were added at the end to help the sound project. You could hear a little fuzzy sound between the bar and the mallet because of the pipe. With this in mind, the soprano marimba had more complicated parts because the sound did not take as long to travel as the bass marimba would, who typically played quarter notes for a majority of the piece. There were also shakers and drums added to the ensemble, but their purpose was also to help keep time. A difference between marimba band and an orchestra is, there is no conductor. The lead soprano player in a marimba band plays the melody and when a certain section has been repeated a few times, the rest of the band becomes aware that a transition is approaching, which is the why the soprano player both is the lead player and the conductor. Typically most orchestras are much bigger than a marimba band, so to have one player take on the responsibility of leading the group and playing their part may be quite difficult. With a conductor’s help, more emotion is exerted from the piece, and it ensures that everyone in the ensemble is playing together.