Download - Four-Octave Vibraphone Resources - Dr. Brian S. Graiser: Percussionist, Composer, Educator
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO PROMOTE THE FOUR-OCTAVE VIBRAPHONE?From Dr. Brian Graiser:
Despite its status as a relative newcomer to Western Art Music, the standard-range (3-octave, F-F) vibraphone is now considered an
essential component of any percussion section. While performers, composers, and audiences have begun to realize that the
extended-range vibraphone (most commonly reaching 3.5 [C-F] or 4 [C-C] octaves) is an increasingly common modern instrument,
most people are unaware that music has been written for the four-octave vibraphone for , dating back to the very first
composition ever to include the vibraphone (see the essay below for more information on this fascinating historical surprise)!
Considering that a growing number of professional orchestras, university studios, and even some high school music programs now
possess extended-range vibraphones, I feel it is only a matter of time until, much like the acceptance of the five-octave marimba, the
four-octave vibraphone is adopted as the new standard model of vibraphone, bringing with it an expanded repertoire and further
means of artistic expression. Were it not for the vibraphone's limited range, I believe that its many unique capabilities (e.g. sustain,
pedaling, mallet-dampening, vibrato, and numerous extended techniques such as harmonics, bowing, and pitch-bending) would likely
have placed the vibraphone, and not the marimba, at the forefront of solo keyboard percussion literature long ago. Fortunately, this
constraint may one day be a thing of the past, as a small but growing number of companies are producing four-octave vibraphones,
including Bergerault (France), Marcon (France), Studio 49 (Germany), VanderPlas (Netherlands), DeMorrow (USA), Yamaha (Japan),
and Saito Gakki (Japan).
There will of course always be a need for the 3-octave (F-F) instrument, particularly in the trunk of the gigging vibraphonist or the
cramped quarters of the orchestra pit, but I believe that the next natural step in the evolution of the vibraphone and its repertoire is
DR. BRIAN S.GRAISER:PERCUSSIONIST,COMPOSER,EDUCATOR
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80 years
the acceptance of the extended range as the new normal. To that end, I have engaged in a number of projects to promote the 4-
octave vibraphone, including arranging and transcribing several works for use on the 4-octave vibraphone (such as Claude Debussy's
), commissioning other composers to write new works for the instrument (such as Christien Ledroit's
[2010] for 4-octave vibraphone and electronics), and composing new works myself (such as my
[2015], the world's first concerto for the extended-range vibraphone, as the culmination of my doctoral
dissertation/project). However, the fate of the extended-range vibraphone truly lies in the hands of the broader community of
percussionists and composers, who I hope will take up the challenge and join me in exploring the untapped potential of the
instrument.
I have created this webpage to assist those individuals who share my desire to research and/or promote the four-octave vibraphone.
Here, I have compiled a number of resources (which I hope to update on a regular basis), including a visual index of existing 4-octave
models, historical essays, and repertoire lists. I welcome any questions or comments via my contact page, and I wish you the best of
luck in your musical pursuits. Thank you for stopping by!
Sunken Cathedral serenity,shattered Concerto No. 1 ["Lulu"] forFour-Octave Vibraphone
FOUR-OCTAVE VIBRAPHONES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
SELECTED REPERTOIRE FOR THEEXTENDED-RANGE VIBRAPHONE
Berg, Alban: (opera) and for
orchestra, 1935 (in modern editions and performances,
most passages in the extended range are considered ).
Messiaen, Olivier:
for choir and chamber orchestra, 1944 (actually for 3-
octave [C4-C7] vibraphone).
Milhaud, Darius:
for soloist and orchestra, 1947 (only the the high
G#6 is used, and then only fleetingly; it is highly likely its
inclusion was actually a compositional oversight).
Bernstein, Leonard:
for orchestra, 1957 (only the high F#6 is used, and
AN ESSAY ON THE SURPRISINGHISTORY OF THE FOUR-OCTAVEVIBRAPHONE(excerpts from Graiser, Brian. "
: A Guide to the World’s First Concerto for
Extended-Range Vibraphone," supplemental document to the
DMA project "Creating the First Concerto for Four-Octave
Vibraphone," University of Cincinnati, 2015, p. 6-8.)
, the First Four-Octave Vibraphone, and the Impact of
World War II (1935-1945)
The vibraphone’s arrival in Western Art Music finally
came in 1935 with Alban Berg’s avant-garde opera (and its
sibling ), premiered as an incomplete work
in two acts in 1937 in Zurich (Berg died in December 1935
before orchestrating the final act, although he had completed a
meticulously annotated short score that was later used to
complete the opera posthumously). Prior to that point, the
vibraphone had been the exclusive tool of jazz musicians (such
as Lionel Hampton, who first encountered and recorded on the
instrument in 1931). Darius Milhaud incorporated the
vibraphone to a small degree in 1932 with incidental music to
Paul Claudel’s play “L’Annonce Faite a Marie,” but it was Berg’s
ambitious opera that first placed the vibraphone on the concert
stage. Reactions were mixed; some critics found the unusual
timbre jarring, while others were more concerned with the
impact Berg’s serial techniques would have on modern music
(one reviewer for the bemoaned Berg’s “entirelyugly, unfertile, unvocal and inexpressive style…To us Mr. Berg
and his ilk are becoming tedious, rather childish and distasteful.
Isn’t it time that we say ‘enough’ to music which bluffs itself and
will bluff us too, if we allow it do so? Who wants to be such a
dupe of an artistic deception?”). When asked in an interview if
there were any instruments he disliked, Igor Stravinsky
responded, “Well, I am not very fond of the two most
conspicuous instruments of the orchestra, the vibraphone
Lulu Lulu Symphonic Suite
ossia
Trois Petites Liturgies de la PresenceDivine
Concerto pour Marimba, Vibraphone, etOrchestra
Symphonic Dances from West SideStory
Concerto No. 1 ('Lulu') for Four-Octave Vibraphone
Lulu
LuluLulu Symphonic Suite
New York Times
Lulu
Bergerault VP4 (France)
then only once; it is likely that the note was an oversight, but
the part is now given as an ).
Berio, Luciano: for voice, harp, and two
percussionists, 1961 (only a single low E3 is used; this is
likely an oversight and is commonly omitted in
performances).
Henze, Hans Werner: (1970) and
(1971) for orchestra (the vibraphone parts extend
up to G6 but not below F3).
Husa, Karel: for wind ensemble, 1973 (the
vibraphone part extends well past the low F3 but does not
go above the high F6).
Henze, Hans Werner: for orchestra,1992 (the
composer's use of the extended range must be brought into
question, as it extends as low as D3 [within the 4-octave
range] but also as high as D7 [which is outside the 4-octave
range]).
Tippett, Michael: for orchestra, 1993 (the
vibraphone part includes F#6 and G6 but does not extend
below Bb3).
Debussy, Claude: , transcribed for 4-
octave vibraphone by Brian Graiser, 2009.
Ledroit, Christien: for 4-octave
vibraphone and electronics, 2010.
Olsen, Peter: for 4-octave vibraphone and
electronic delay, 2010.
Graiser, Brian:
, 2015.
Graiser, Brian: for solo 4-octave
vibraphone, 2015.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY FORFURTHER RESEARCHBlackshere, Lawrence Douglas.
. Thesis (M.A.
in Music)—Calif. State College, Hayward, 1971.
Cheesman, Brian S. “An Introductory Guide to Vibraphone: Four
Idiomatic Practices and a Survey of Pedagogical Material and
Solo Literature.” DMA diss. University of Southern Mississippi,
2012.
Culhane, John. “Henry Schluter: Vibraharp originator. Bell expert
rings up 60 years.” 4/2 (December 1965): p. 4
[reprinted from the Chicago Daily News of March 27, 1965].
Daniels, Sean E. “Vibraphone Concerti: Published and
Unpublished Works from 1947-2001.” DMA diss., University of
North Carolina at Greensboro, 2004.
Friedman, David.
and the alto saxophone. I do admit, however, that the
vibraphone has amazing contrapuntal abilities; and the
saxophone’s juvenile-delinquent personality floating out over all
the vast decadence of is the very apple of that opera’s
fascination.”
Berg’s inclusion of the vibraphone in the opera as
well as the five-movement was no fleeting
whim; the vibraphone can be heard throughout all phases of
both works, and the composer fully explored the then-cutting-
edge capabilities of both the instrument and the performer.
Berg paid close attention to the use of motorized vibrato, agile
pedaling, and two-, three-, and four-mallet playing, in addition
to making use of the instrument’s entire range. As a matter of
fact, Berg’s exploration of the vibraphone’s range in is itself
the most noteworthy aspect of the part: in both the opera and
the , the part is clearly written for four-octave
(C-C) vibraphone! On several occasions, the part ventures
outside the standard three-octave (F-F) range but never strays
beyond the extended four-octave range, going as low as C#3
and as high as B6 (in later editions, some of this material is put
in parentheses as an ossia). At first glance, most percussionists
attribute the extended-range material in to compositional
error. This, of course, begs the question: how could Alban Berg,
one of the esteemed champions of the Second Viennese School,
be accused of making such an egregious oversight as to write
outside of an instrument’s range on several occasions? Or,
perhaps, did such an instrument actually exist at the time?
Despite a heady flow of design improvements, no four-octavevibraphones suited to the part in were being built… at
least, not officially.
English percussionist Michael Holloway’s letter to the editor
published by the Percussive Notes Research Edition in 1977 in
response to an earlier article on the history of the vibraphone
opens up the possibility of a much earlier origin for the
extended-range instrument, stating that “in their 1939
catalogue, Boosey & Hawkes advertised a 4 Octave (C to C)
instrument but few, if any, of these monsters were built before
the outbreak of War in 1939 stopped all musical manufacture in
England & the Writer never saw or heard one of these ‘in
action.’” Another piece of historical trivia both illuminates and
obscures the issue: although the opera was premiered in
1937, the (also written for four-octave
vibraphone) was premiered two years earlier, in 1935, prior to
Berg’s passing. As it happens, the first time Berg heard any of
his material for performed was via the 1935 radio
broadcast of the BBC Symphony Orchestra performing the
in London. Although no evidence has yet been
found to confirm this theory, it is entirely possible that a
representative of the BBC Symphony Orchestra approached the
builders at Boosey & Hawkes (both entities being based in
London) to commission the construction of a custom-made
four-octave vibraphone for use in Berg’s work, and that after
refining the design for a few years, Boosey & Hawkes made their
ossia
Circles
El Cimarron Second ViolinConcerto
Al Fresco
Requiem
Rose Lake
La Cathedrale Engloutie
serenity, shattered
Inner Structure
Concerto No. 1 ("Lulu") for Four-OctaveVibraphone
Winter Meditation
Considerations on the ConcertoPour Marimba et Vibraphone (Un Seul Executant)
Percussionist
Vibraphone Technique: Dampening and
Lulu
Lulu Lulu Symphonic Suite
Lulu
Symphonic Suite
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Symphonic Suite
. Boston: Berklee Press Publications, 1973.
Graiser, Brian. "
: A Guide to the World’s First Concerto for Extended-
Range Vibraphone," supplemental document to the DMA project
"Creating the First Concerto for Four-Octave Vibraphone,"
University of Cincinnati, 2015.
Holloway, Michael. Letter to the Editor, 14, no. 5
(Winter 1977): 104-105.
Howland, Harold. “The Vibraphone: A Summary of Historical
Observations with a Catalog of Selected Solo and Small-
Ensemble Literature.” [Part 1] 14, no. 3 (Summer
1977): 77-93; [Part 2] 51/1 (Fall 1977): 20-40.
Howland, Harold. “The Vibraphone: A Summary of Historical
Observations with a Catalog of Selected Solo and Small-
Ensemble Literature.” MA diss., Catholic University, 1976.
Meyer, Jacqueline. “Early History and Development of the Vibes.”
13, no. 2 (Winter 1976): 38-47.
Meyer, Jacqueline. .
Thesis (M.A.)- Indiana State University, 1973.
Siwe, Thomas. . Champaign: Media,
1998.
Smith, Joshua D. “Extended Performance Techniques and
Compositional Style in the Solo Concert Vibraphone Music of
Christopher Deane.” DMA diss., University of North Texas, 2008.
four-octave model publicly available in 1939.
Despite the mixed critical reception of , it appeared that the
vibraphone itself had gained the interest of modern musicians
and was poised to survive the death of Berg, its earliest
proponent, and become an international sensation. In 1937
(after the premiere of the opera), Premier added a three
and a half-octave (F-C) model to its line of vibraphones. Also in
1937, an ambitious young Deagan employee named Clair Omar
Musser (who would later leave Deagan to start his own
company) developed the model 55 “Imperial” vibraphone, which
boasted several improvements to form and function which
would influence vibraphone design for decades to come. The
next year saw two more additions to Deagan’s catalog, the two
and a half-octave (C-F) model 30-W and the three-octave (F-F)
model 35 “Mercury.”
However, as the 1977 letter to the editor pointed out, the advent
of World War II had a profound impact on the trajectory of the
arts, including instrument design and production. Several
instrument manufacturers had to significantly restrict or
altogether halt production: in addition to the halt of Boosey &
Hawkes’ operations (and the subsequent loss of their Ajax four-
octave vibraphone), Premier’s three and a half-octave
vibraphone was discontinued in 1938, and the Leedy drum
division at Conn was completely disrupted. Even Deagan, the
strongest firm at the time, was greatly affected by the war: all of
Deagan’s pre-1937 vibraphone models were discontinued by
1939, and the rest (including the model 45 “Diana,” which
Deagan attempted to introduce in 1940) were discontinued in
1942 after America entered the war. No new vibraphones were
made until 1945, when Deagan reintroduced the “Mercury” as
the model 35 “Rondo.”
Composers and performers were similarly affected, and any
momentum the vibraphone had gained by its inclusion in Berg’s
work was completely lost. The lone bright spot during this
period was Olivier Messiaen’s
, written in 1944 for women’s choir, piano,
ondes martenot, vibraphone, strings, and percussion. Today,
most modern ensembles opt to use a four-octave vibraphone,
as the part extends past F6 during three separate sections of the
work (reaching as high as Bb6). However, unlike Berg,
Messiaen’s intent was not to make use of an extended-range
instrument; the vibraphone part does not extend below C4
(middle C), thus requiring only a three-octave (C4-C7)
instrument. At the time of the piece’s composition, three such
instruments (Deagan’s model 144 “Radio,” Premier’s “New
Sterling,” and Ludwig’s “Vibra-Celeste”) would have been around
for a number of years and were likely available to the composer.
Unfortunately, no other composers joined Messiaen in writing
for the instrument, and any hope of establishing the four-octave
range as the standard was lost with Berg’s death and Boosey &
Hawkes’ decision to not resume production of their Ajax four-
octave vibraphone after the conclusion of World War II.
Pedaling
Concerto No. 1 ('Lulu') for Four-OctaveVibraphone
Percussionist
Percussionist
Percussionist
The History and Development of the Vibes
Percussion Solo Literature
Lulu
Lulu
Trois Petites Liturgies de laPresence Divine
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