It's back for 2021 - my tier list of the Top 50 most popular marimba solos in the world. And I've made a few changes.
t's been over a year since I last made my 2020 Tier List video ranking these 50 marimba solos in order of difficulty.
Since then, I've listened to and learned a lot more about these marimba solos, and I've also adjudicated a range of competitions this year with many participants performing these pieces.
Before you read this, make sure you’ve watched the matching THE STUDIO episode for this tier list by clicking here. You'll hear my reasoning for every single piece's placement on this list.
It's often difficult to find your way around marimba solos these days, especially if you've never heard them or played them before.
And too often, we associate 'advanced' and 'complex' with 'good', and 'simple' and 'easy' with 'bad'.
This should never be the case with any marimba music, so I've changed the criterion for this year's tier list.
How the tier list works
I went and found 50 marimba solos under the ‘Most Popular’ category at a leading music store (not sponsored) and sorted them into the following five tiers using a modified criterion compared to 2020:
Likelihood of performance - how likely I'd be willing to program and perform this piece (50%); and
X-Factor, how interesting the piece is to me (50%).
Remember, this list is based solely on my opinion - you might place pieces in different tiers and that's okay!
S Tier (Exceptional - I must play these at some point in my life)
S Tier works are often highly respected and both musically and historically significant. If a piece is in S Tier, chances are I've either already played it many times and enjoyed it thoroughly, or I deem it to be a must play at some stage in my life. I wouldn't be surprised to see most marimba soloists with a few of these in their repertoire rotations.
A Tier (Very Good - I would be happy to play these any time)
A Tier works are also highly respected, but maybe not as significant as S Tier works. I find these to be very musically interesting and extremely safe choices for any situation. The only reason why they wouldn't be in S Tier is because they are maybe just a little bit less special than the S Tier works.
B Tier (Good - I wouldn't mind playing these, but I'm not in a rush to do so)
B Tier works are good and there's really nothing wrong with them. They are most likely widely played and common in repertoire lists and examinations around the world. Maybe they're just not as interesting, a little bit too common or they don't suit as many scenarios as I'd like.
C Tier (Okay - I would only play these if I really had to)
C Tier works are the sort of pieces that I would maybe give to students as 'starter pieces', or as exercises to work on a specific point of technique. C Tier works definitely sound kind of 'meh' to me from a musical standpoint and I think even the composers of these works know that they've written these for a specific educational purpose. Put it this way - once you've learned a C Tier piece, you will probably never play it again.
D Tier (I would just avoid these completely)
D Tier works are well... just not really up to the minimum standard. You'll find far more interesting alternatives for the works in this tier while delivering the same outcomes. It's extremely unlikely you'll find me giving these pieces to students.
Here's the completed tier list (in picture and text form)
So, here is the completed list with my personal picks for each tier.
Below is the text form of the Tier List for your convenience.
Notes
* = can be played on 4.3 octave marimba
^ = available free via public domain (e.g. IMSLP).
Entries with bulleted list are books with multiple pieces included.
S Tier (Exceptional)
Abe, Keiko
Marimba d'amore
Abe, Keiko
Works for Marimba
Memories of the Seashore
Wind in the Bamboo Grove
Little Windows
Ancient Vase
Variations on Japanese Children's Songs*
Abe, Keiko (compiler)
Modern Japanese Marimba Pieces 1
Time for Marimba* by Minoru Miki
Torse III* by Akira Miyoshi
Mirage pour Marimba* by Yasuo Sueyoshi
Monovalence I* by Shin-ichiro Ikebe
Cangelosi, Casey
White Knuckle Stroll*
Ewazen, Eric
Northern Lights
Glennie, Evelyn
Three Chorales for Marimba
Miki, Minoru
Marimba Spiritual
Schwantner, Joseph
Velocities
Thomas, Andrew
Merlin
Vinao, Alejandro
Khan Variations
A Tier (Very Good)
Abe, Keiko
Frogs
Arlen, Harold
Over The Rainbow (arr. for marimba by Robert Oetomo)
Bach, Johann Sebastian
Six Cello Suites
Bach, Johann Sebastian
Six Violin Sonatas and Partitas*
Cangelosi, Casey
Two Characters
Cheung, Pius
Etude in E Minor
Druckman, Jacob
Reflections on the Nature of Water
Lansky, Paul
Three Moves for Marimba
Maslanka, David
Variations on Lost Love
Miyake, Kazunori
Chain
Musser, Clair Omar
Etude in C Major, Op. 6 No. 10*
Trevino, Ivan
Strive To Be Happy*
B Tier (Good)
Aldridge, Robert From My Little Island
Bobo, Kevin
Gordon's Bicycle
Burritt, Michael Caritas
Druckman, Jacob Reflections on the Nature of Water
Ford, Mark Polaris
Glennie, Evelyn Three Chorales for Marimba
Lansky, Paul Three Moves for Marimba
Lin, Chin Cheng
Wind
Mimura, Nanae Transformation of Pachelbel’s Canon
Monkman, Jesse
Parody*
Muramatsu, Takatsugu
Land
O’Meara, Rich Restless*
Rosauro, Ney
Three Preludes for Marimba*
Sammut, Eric Libertango: Variations on Marimba
Sammut, Eric Four Rotations*
Sejourne, Emmanuel Romantica
Stevens, Leigh Howard Rhythmic Caprice
Stout, Gordon Two Mexican Dances*
Tyson, Blake A cricket sang and set the sun*
Wittiber, Benjamin
Rhythm Dance
Zeltsman, Nancy
Intermediate Masterworks for Marimba Vol. 1
The Zebra by Robert Livingston Aldridge
Over There by Carla Bley
Have You Met Lydia? by Ed Haddad
Two Piece for Solo Marimba by Anders Hillborg
Two Little Movements by Darren Robert Jones
Rifflesi di Raggi Lunari by Gaetano Lorandi
Beast by Steven Mackey
Taksim by Osnat Netzer
Three Small Adventures by Gunther Schuller
Amulet by Paul Simon
Dansons? by Alvina Tan
For Dean Primmer by Derek Tywoniuk
Zivkovic, Nebojsa Jovan Ilijas
C Tier (Okay)
Gomez, Alice
Mbira Song
Gomez, Alice
Rain Dance
Hatch, Earl Challenge I*
Hopper, Adam
Ghost Garden*
Schmitt, Matthias
Ghanaia*
Smadbeck, Paul Rhythm Song*
Smadbeck, Paul Virginia Tate*
D Tier (Avoid)
Peters, Mitchell Sea Refractions*
Peters, Mitchell Yellow After The Rain*
Zivkovic, Nebojsa Jovan Funny Marimba Book I*
Final thoughts
I really enjoyed putting together this year's tier list because I realised once I put the difficulty away, I started thinking of pieces as actual music rather than just chop burning challenges. Let me know what you think of my rankings in the comments :)
And if this tier list was helpful to you, please share it around and consider following me on the links down below.
No matter what you end up playing on marimba, make sure you enjoy playing it as much as possible.
I'm still a big marimba fan, and I still love playing it all the time. You can always catch me on THE STUDIO show or follow me @thestudiofamily on Instagram.