Stings and Wings (2021) for Marimba

Stings and Wings is a three-movement piece for solo marimba. Each movement is a musical picture of an insect, and may be played individually or as a suite of movements. Stings and Wings was commissioned by percussionist Claire Edwardes, as part of a project to increase the marimba repertoire by women composers and aimed at advanced school-level difficulty. Along with several new pieces by Australian women composers, the project resulted in a guide for composers writing for solo marimba.

The first movement, Jack Jumper, depicts a particularly poisonous ant that is native to Tasmania. Recitative-like passages with tremolo and chromatic scales feature in Dragonfly, creating an image of the insect that can fly vertically up and down like a helicopter, catching all its food in mid-air.

The fast final movement, Moth Hunt, is based on music originally composed for the documentary film Quoll Farm, and the scene of Eastern quolls running around at night hunting the Tasmanian Corbie moths, which hatch on rainy nights, beating their wings as the quolls hunt them for a delicious night-time snack.

Duration: ca. 9 minutes (movements may be played alone rather than all three in sequence)
Purchase here: https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/product/stings-and-wings-for-solo-marimba