*WEB CONTINUATION: This article originally appeared in Volume 105 Issue 3 of our news magazine, Amplifier.

In preparation for their solo and ensemble competitions, the school band’s percussion section was able to borrow and practice with a five-octave marimba, courtesy of Brett EE Paschal, a professor and band director at Lewis and Clark College. This was an upgrade in both sound and quality from the four-octave marimbas that the musicians were using previously.

Kevin Lin, sophomore, and Henry Hall-Brown, junior, both receive lessons from Paschal. Lin went on to become a district champion in mallets for his solo performance, and Hall-Brown was awarded second place in mallets at districts. 

“I had always played on my lessons with [Paschal], but it was super special for us to bring it here because we’ve never had a five-octave at this school,” Hall-Brown said. “It’s a much more beautiful sound than the marimbas that we have here. It’s maybe 10 extra low notes, but it adds so much volume and flair to what you’re playing.”

Because of the quality and price of the instrument, only the percussion players were allowed to touch the instrument during the time it was loaned to the school. 

“A lot of modern literature stretches down into base notes, which are incredibly expensive to the point where a bar itself might cost $500 [for] a low C,” Lin said. “Marimbas are usually composed of pretty rare woods, usually endangered like rosewood. [To buy the one from] Lewis and Clark, that’s probably gonna set you back like $30,000.”

Milo Jordan, sophomore, played the marimba for an ensemble piece called “Kyoto.”

“My part has a lot of the really, really low notes, and so that added a whole new layer of sound because there was a new bass center in it, which is really important,” Jordan said. “When it was announced in concert bands, it was a really cool moment. Mr. Egan threatened people to refrain from touching it, except for us, because we’re percussionists. It’s just a really elegant instrument.”

While the piece(s) they performed for solo and ensemble did call for a five-octave marimba to reach bass notes, the percussionists originally planned to substitute them with the same notes in a higher octave.

“For our large percussion ensemble, we also picked a [piece] that used a five-octave marimba, which we didn’t know ahead of time that we would be able to have this opportunity,” Hall-Brown said. “Our plan was that we were going to take what was written for the five-octave and just move it up an octave to get a little higher sound. We were very lucky that we were able to use it also for that performance, because the bass totally changes.”

Katie Dehlin, junior, did not play the instrument or use it for competitions, but heard her peers perform with it and helped pack and send it back to Lewis and Clark. The process involves individually packing the wooden bars for each note, as well as disassembling the resonators, which are the metal tubes that help project the sound.

“It’s such a humongous instrument when you’re looking at it. Even just taking it apart was really cool,” Dehlin said. “You have to be really careful with [the resonators], because if they dent, it can alter the sound.”

Dehlin was also able to hear the marimba in action during Lin’s solo performance. 

“It was really cool watching Kevin’s solo. It was really fabulous, really well done,” Dehlin said. “There was this group of girls from another school who were sitting in the front row, and after he got done they all turned to each other eyes wide, mouth open, like, ‘Did you just hear that?’ You could just see how much work he put into it.” 

Although they no longer have the instrument at the high school, the percussionists are hoping for similar opportunities to play rare instruments in the future.

“This year it actually has happened a lot more times than it ever has, so I guess it’s kind of an outlier,” Hall-Brown said. “We had to borrow this five-octave for our solos, and we borrowed a vibraphone from Athey Creek, just because they have one that’s [better], and we also borrowed a set of bongos. It definitely is nice to know that we have that opportunity now.”