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I am a musician playing the Marimba. Because quite a bit of music for marimba is written by famous Japanese composers, occasionally I come across some Japanese text I would like to understand.

In the piece "Two methods of Movement for Marimba", written by Toshimitsu TANAKA, there is, on the 6th page, a Glissando(moving with the sticks along all bars) with a star. At the bottom of the page, the star is printed again, this time with a japanese sentence.

Glissando: http://imageshack.us/a/img59/2897/p1050958x.jpg

Japanese sentence: http://imageshack.us/a/img198/9558/p1050957.JPG


I would be very grateful if someone could unveil the meaning of that sentence.

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1 Answer 1

up vote 3 down vote accepted

It reads: "撥(ばち)の音(おと)も加えたgliss". This literally means: "The sound of drumsticks"-too "added to"-gliss, and in translation:

Glissando complemented by the sound of drumsticks.

It seems a bit rendundant, knowing that a Marimba would only allow for discrete glissando.

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Could it mean sliding the mallet shaft as well, rather than just the wrapped part? If so, then I think it wouldn't be redundant. –  snailboat Apr 8 '13 at 18:07
Hmm... very interesting. This might be the case. Something that also hints to this are the X-shaped notes on the Glissando, normally used on 'hard' hits in percussion like when hitting a cymbal or a cowbell. Thanks a lot, Jens and snailplane! –  Qqwy Apr 8 '13 at 19:33

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