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It is common in the percussion world to play the music by Astor Piazzolla without being proficient in the Tango style. A lot of percussionists, including me, simply play the piano or guitar parts on the marimba without making any adjustments to the arrangement, because it sounds good to us and it is technically possible. By copying directly, we think we know about the style, but we are wrong. This issue can also be found in the marimba arrangements of Bach’s Cello Suites. In my opinion, one should research about styles of the compositions if they were not originally written for percussion. Otherwise one will never be as close as possible to the intended style, which is essential for a good performance. Since Tango is about arranging, my goal is to find a suitable role for the marimba in the music of Astor Piazzolla that is as closely aligned to the stylistic traits of Tango as possible.

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    • Yves Popow
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    It is common in the percussion world to play the music by Astor Piazzolla without being proficient in the Tango style. A lot of percussionists, including me, simply play the piano or guitar parts on the marimba without making any adjustments to the arrangement, because it sounds good to us and it is technically possible. By copying directly, we think we know about the style, but we are wrong. This issue can also be found in the marimba arrangements of Bach’s Cello Suites. In my opinion, one should research about styles of the compositions if they were not originally written for percussion. Otherwise one will never be as close as possible to the intended style, which is essential for a good performance. Since Tango is about arranging, my goal is to find a suitable role for the marimba in the music of Astor Piazzolla that is as closely aligned to the stylistic traits of Tango as possible.
  • Yves Popow - Adapting the marimba into Astor Piazzolla's music - 2016
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