November

To Beverley Johnston

On November 26, 2020, I was lucky to be able to record a few projects in Walter Hall at the University of Toronto thanks to one of my wonderful teachers, Aiyun Huang. On the menu for that day was some Bach and orchestral excerpts—I managed to finish early and record a short impromptu.

In previous years, I would usually find time to warm up or down with a brief improvised chorale noodle on the marimba—I find it helpful to clear the mind and ease the chops in or out of a practice session. However, through this pandemic year I have found less and less time for this kind of thing. But luckily, with my extra few minutes in Walter Hall, I was able to quickly get one done. Thus, November was born.

At the suggestion of another teacher of mine, Beverley Johnston, I transcribed the improvisation—thanks Bev! The piece is simple, unaffected, understated; everything I like my cooldowns to be. But I love exploring the warmth and richness that a marimba can create! The low end of the instrument needs all the love it can get, so it is nice to hear it sing once and a while—even in a little étude.