Rhapsody in Blue: Mallet Instrument Book & CD

Linda Maxey's arrangement captures the sweeping virtuosity of the original while writing idiomatically for the marimba, ensuring the solo part sings without sounding orchestrally stranded. The included CD offers both a full performance and separated rehearsal sections, giving students a clear model to study and a genuine accompanist during practice. This is the kind of arrangement that convinces advanced percussionists that the marimba is a concert instrument with serious artistic weight.

Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue on marimba is a conversation between elegance and exuberance. You'll encounter moments of sultry, introspective melody that float above the piano, then shift suddenly into cascading runs that demand both speed and clarity. The piece swings without ever sacrificing the symphonic architecture underneath; it feels contemporary even after a century.

Advanced high school percussionists and college-level marimba students preparing for solo recitals or festival competition. This arrangement demands secure technique across the full range of the marimba, secure sight-reading of complex rhythms, and the maturity to shape long lyrical phrases alongside virtuosic sections.

• Listen to the full performance track first before diving into individual sections. Gershwin's phrasing is conversational and flows across traditional phrase boundaries; the recording will anchor your sense of where the music breathes.
• Balance the demands of fast passagework with the lyrical slow sections by differentiating your mallets; softer mallets in the middle register during the sultry passages will let the melodic line speak without forcing.
• Work with the accompaniment CD in sections rather than attempting the entire piece at tempo from the start. The separated rehearsal tracks let you lock the rhythmic relationships and harmonic underpinning before bringing everything together.
• Pay attention to the jazz-inflected syncopations and note the written accidentals carefully. Gershwin's harmonic language is chromatic and unexpected; precision here separates a confident performance from a sloppy one.

This arrangement works beautifully as the centerpiece of a solo recital or as a festival competition selection where you want to showcase a student's maturity and range. It also pairs well with other jazz-influenced or American repertoire; program it alongside works by Duke Ellington or Aaron Copland to create a distinctly American concert arc.

• Four-mallet independence and control across a two-octave range
• Executing jazz articulations and swing feel on pitched percussion
• Phrasing long melodic lines without conductor support
• Syncopated rhythm reading across mixed meters and syncopation patterns
• Balancing solo weight with piano accompaniment
• Transitioning between rapid passagework and sustained legato playing