Uji (宇治)

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Recording created using Virtual Drumline.

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Instrumentation: One 5.0 Octave Marimba

Program Notes:

Uji is a small city in Japan famous for its Green Tea. As classmates in Texas, I would occasionally drive my friend Akiko to the airport before the holidays so she could fly home to Japan. To thank me for this, she would return with Green Tea Kit-Kat bars, which I quickly fell in love with. She has proceeded to bring me a pack or two of them every year when we see each other.

Musically, Uji is an attempt to create for two players the texture created in marimba solos such as Michael Burritt’s The Offering, the third movement of Patrick Long’s Dreamscapes, and the second movement of Paul Lansky’s Three Moves, while at the same taking advantage of having multiple players. Uji was commissioned by Akiko Iino-Goto and premiered by Akiko and Kana Omori in the summer of 2016.