Echeveria for Solo Marimba by Michael Crane

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Echeveria came about as a compositional exploration and eventual application of the second mode of the melodic minor scale, Dorian b2, as conveyed through a pseudo-tonal lense. Built off an E natural tonic, Echeveria could be most naturally written in a “key” consisting only of a C#. Dorian b2 features characteristics of both the Dorian and Phrygian modes, as well as unique harmonic and melodic shapes built though the interactions of its characteristic tones, the flattened 2nd, F, and natural 6th, C#. In addition, much of the chromatic harmony is derived through the application of modal interchange through closely related natural and synthetic scales.

This work is named after the echeveria plant, a common succulent shaped and often colored like a flower. The resemblance to something naturally beautiful, but simultaneously being “other” creates a unique dichotomy and sense of beauty in of itself. The succulent mirroring the natural beauty of a flower is analogous in this way to the synthetic scale resembling the “beauty” of a natural mode. The composition’s “otherness” is further enhanced through metric and melodic disjunctions.