Tensions

Item details

Description +
- Duration: 6 min.
  
  Exploring the confluence of electronic dance music and classical marimba styles, Tensions is an intense and virtuosic marimba solo with tape backing. The tape draws from the sonic worlds of various EDM genres such as jungle, drum and bass, break beats, trance, and house, whilst also taking some influence from jazz fusion styles.
  
  The piece is inspired by the duality of tensions and releases that pervade all music forms: be it in the cadences of Western classical symphonies or in the build-ups and beat drops of modern EDM. In some ways, these tensions and releases can furthermore reflect the peaks and troughs of our own life experiences.
  
  Since the balance between soloist and tape varies greatly depending on the room played in and the technology used, the written dynamics should be used less as an indicator of volume but more so as an indicator of energy, character, and colour. This piece is also possible on a 4.3-octave marimba—ossia bars have been provided during these moments.
  
  Joey Eng
Instrumentation +
- Marimba and Tape
About the composer +
- Joey Eng (b. 2001) is a percussionist, composer and educator from Perth, Western Australia. He has performed and given masterclasses to audiences in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Joey was the winner of the 2022 Warana Concerto Competition and a fi nalist in both the inaugural 2019 and the 2021 Marimbafest international solo marimba competition, in which he won 2nd prize and the audience choice award.
  
  A multi-skilled percussionist and collaborator, Joey has performed with many orchestras across Australia including the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Perth Symphony Orchestra, Australian Baroque, and the Australian Youth Orchestra. He was also a member and soloist with the World Percussion Group.
  
  As a composer, Joey’s solo percussion and chamber works are being performed regularly by thousands around the world and are on the repertoire lists for multiple notable competitions, including Marimbafest, the Australian Marimba Competition, and the East Switzerland Solo Competition. He has been commissioned by many ensembles/organizations, including the World Percussion Group, Edition Svitzer, Edith Cowan University, the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and the Silver Sands Guitar Quartet. His compositions have been featured multiple times in the Percussive Notes magazine.
  
  Joey completed his Bachelor of Music from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, receiving the 2022 WAAPA Medal as the top graduate of the entire university. As an educator, he was a lecturer specialising in keyboard percussion studies at Edith Cowan University and has taught high school percussionists across schools in Perth, with his students winning a multitude of awards including the Premier of WA Award and the 2023 Marimbafest Open Class Ensemble 1st Prize.
  
  Joey is a Premier Artist for instrument manufacturer Marimba One (USA) and is endorsed by Salyers Percussion and Encore Mallets (USA). His compositions are published by Edition Svitzer (Denmark).
Reviews +
- Review (Percussive Notes, April 2026)
  
  Joey Eng has become known for accessible and melodic solo marimba works for the advanced player; “Square One” and “The Narrows” continue to show up on students’ most frequently requested pieces to play for recitals. His newest solo with electronic accompaniment, “Tensions,” dives heavily into electronic dance music (EDM) genres for the beat and background of the track, as well as many lead lines that also double in the marimba part. The piece maintains a high energy, and for the social media era we live in, the recorded version packs an effective musical punch.
  
  The marimba part was originally written for a 5-octave marimba, but Eng provides ossia lines for anything below a low A to allow for the solo to be played on a 4.3-octave instrument. There are only few moments that travel below the low A, so the piece does not lose much depth if played on a smaller keyboard.
  
  Much of the piece is broken down into three types of compositional or performance techniques: planing, octave right-hand notes with a left-hand fifth in various permutations, and monophonic melodies that double electronic lead lines in the track. Eng’s playing techniques use parallel motion in three or four notes, a deceptively challenging tool he uses effectively in other works to move phrases around the instrument with a big sound. His use of pop-style melodies in octaves, which is prevalent in other works, is present here, but can be disguised at times with more nontraditional rhythms. Eng also includes an extended component of the piece using only two mallets as the rhythmic speed increases and the marimba melody rises high up on the instrument to match the synthesizer lead line.
  
  The accompanying tape part is very dense and dynamically limited throughout much of the piece, so balancing this for a live performance to get the impact of EDM while also hearing the marimba through the electronics would be very difficult. That challenge aside, Eng does a great job compositionally to develop transitions naturally in the piece, never landing into a new idea or style without an appropriate evolution, as one would expect in any great EDM style.
  
  — Matthew Geige
Credits +
- Front Cover Graphics and Layout: Joey Eng
  Photo: Joey Eng
  Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
  Copyright © Edition SVITZER
  www.editionsvitzer.com

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