Metric Lips - Bela Fleck and New Grass Revival - percussion cover

****Turn your Bass down on your speakers for this one. The bottom end of the marimba in the auditorium got boomy!*****

This piece was recorded March 2008 at Denton High School in Denton, TX, while I was the percussion instructor there.

This arrangement of mine was inspired by the great Row-Loff arrangement of this song by David Steinquest. That was written for a low A marimba, so I thought it would be neat to put the song back in its original key, using a 5 octave marimba. I also extended the song and added in all of the extra solos that were cut out of that version, and changed up a lot of the background "comping" parts to be closer to the original.

My kids convinced me to play guitar along with them (even in the All-State room the year before and the judge didn't say a thing because I look so young), which really added a touch of the original I thought, and then I had the idea to have the xylophone part actually play the mandolin chops instead of chords on the xylo.

Putting the piece in its original key did cause some muddiness issues on the low end of the marimba, but we still had a lot of fun with it, and it sounds a little grittier than the Row-Loff version I think, in the lower register. Nerves got the best of us in this run, with some really weird mistakes that never happened before, but all in all I'm still proud of this arrangement and performance.

Left to Right:

Joanna Ceja - (vibes/guitar part)
Sean Redman - (me on guitar)
Ryan Klinck - (bass marimba/bass part)
Bobby Jacobs - (xylo & mandolin)
Austin Ford - (marimba/banjo part)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Metric
• Lips
• Bela
• Fleck
• New
• Grass
• Revival
• Bluegrass
• Sam
• Bush
• Percussion
• Denton
• High
• School
• DHS
• Cover
• Arrangement
• Marimba
• Texas
• Ensemble
• Guitar
• Banjo
• Mandolin
• Sean
• Redman

[DisposableHero187]

this is so cool...ive been listenin to new grass revival since i was seven...so i just think this is awesome :D

[SeanUNT]

Thanks man. NGR is great, especially Sam Bush and Bela. Check out my arrangement of the Flecktones' Big Country and subscribe if you like!

[mcdowall93]

i love this..... we played the row loff version... and this one is soooooooo much bettter

[SeanUNT]

Thanks man, glad you liked it! Have you heard the original? A live version of it is at the top of the related videos to the right. I just wanted to make it as true to the original as possible, and having the 5 octave marimba let me put it in the right key. Adding the guitar and mandolin was fun though. I have an arrangement of another Flecktones tune, Big Country. Check it out, and subscribe if you like!

[4malletfury]

This is a very well balanced ensemble! You guys play great for the most part. I think the mallet choice on the xylo was very good. The guitar is a great audition. The marimba 1 player does a very good job on his part and the bass marimbaist does the best job I have seen so far on this piece. This is great!

[SeanUNT]

Thanks 4malletfury, I'm glad you liked it! It was fun to add the string instruments to it.

That's funny you mention the xylo mallets. I hadn't spent much time listening to the group from a distance, what with playing guitar in it and all, and the day before the concert, Mark Ford (the percussion professor at UNT) suggested we use really hard wound cord mallets instead of hard plastic. It made a huge improvement, so thanks for noticing! I agree it sounds much more natural.

[civilengsi]

Great rendition! I love me some Pat Flynn.

[flamssssss]

Do you happen to have the guitar part for this piece? I know its sort of like the vibe part, but do you have it written in tab form? I really need it.. :(

[YooToobTheGreat]

sounds awesome, especially with the added guitar parts lol

[SeanUNT]

Thanks! I liked to think that I took an already great arrangement from Row-Loff and improved on it by making it more true to the original.

But I could do things like adding all the eliminated material, using a 5 octave marimba to put it back down in the original key, and the guitar/mandolin that the original couldn't have and still be sellable to highschools.

But thanks for the kind words, make sure and check out my arrangement of Big Country if you haven't yet, and subscribe for more!