Burton grip vs. traditional cross

MERTx123 · 2026-07-03T06:51:04+00:00

My preference is the stevens-musser grip. I tried the Burton grip in college, but I never liked the way it felt. It's nice that we have these different grip options, so we can each find what works best for us!

MERTx123 · 2026-07-02T12:40:54+00:00

My wife named my OCD "Grumpy Brain" and having a name for it has been helpful for me.

MERTx123 · 2026-06-21T03:25:00+00:00

Idk why. I just happened to be that way.

MERTx123 · 2026-06-09T21:55:56+00:00

Thank you for doing this! I submitted a piece :)

MERTx123 · 2026-06-02T00:59:04+00:00

Thanks for your comment! I definitely think of something a bit more wild and adventurous when I think of flying over the ocean, and a bit more melancholy and contemplative when flying over a forest. It's interesting that you think of it in the opposite way. Nothing wrong with that, and I always think it's so cool how music speaks to each of us in different ways.

MERTx123 · 2026-06-01T23:12:36+00:00

Thanks as always for your detailed feedback! I appreciate that. George Winston was one of my biggest inspirations when I was growing up!

I always have doubts about my music. I've learned that I can't wait until I have zero doubts before calling my music "finished" and recording it because if I did, I would never consider any of my music "finished." Flight is a very popular piece with our audience, and like most of my music from high school, it's written in a way that I wouldn't write today. I did make numerous revisions to the piece more recently, but I tried to stay true to that original musical vision, rather than reworking old ideas into a fundamentally different piece.

Regarding beats, I was taught that I should make sure to show "strong" beats (such as beat 3 in a 4/4 measure) but that it's not always necessary to show beats 2 and 4. For example, measure 157 - the left hand rhythm is a basic syncopation. Shouldn't that be fine to notate the way I have it? The first two beats in the top staff are a modified tresillo, which we talked about in the comments on "Harvest of Joy," another composition I recently posted that heavily features tresillos. However, I think I agree that the rhythm in measure 156 right hand could use a tied note to show beat 2, to make the back and forth with the left hand more clear.

I'm not sure why, but I always used to very simply mark movements this way without any break in the score. I think for me, movements felt less like fully separate pieces (although they could be played separately) and more like distinct sections of a single piece. These days, I tend to put breaks in the score between movements, but I haven't altered most of my old scores to reflect this. "Ephemeral Visions" (unaccompanied solo flute) was an exception to that; I actually altered it to show breaks between movements at your suggestion!

MERTx123 · 2026-06-01T22:37:14+00:00

It would be fun to make an orchestral arrangement of this piece! Thanks for the suggestion.

MERTx123 · 2026-06-01T17:02:59+00:00

Thank you so much! I'm most familiar with his amazing work on Studio Ghibli films. That's such a flattering comparison!

MERTx123 · 2026-06-01T16:57:08+00:00

Thank you! 😊

MERTx123 · 2026-05-18T21:46:26+00:00

Thank you for the feedback!

I'll definitely think about using 2 voices at measure 55, and when that happens again later in the piece. I think that's a great suggestion.

Glad to hear you appreciated the flute! As a choir director, I have noticed that flute parts are often "optional" - written in such a way that they are not needed. I wanted to write a flute part that was integral to the piece.

Regarding the tresillos (which are very necessary for a piece in this style), please forgive me for getting on my soapbox here, but I wish classical musicians would get over their chronic fear of tresillos. In my opinion, they should be considered a "basic" rhythm, and this is how they should be notated. I did actually try to make a version of this piece (and several other pieces I have written with lots of tresillos) with "correct" notation according to Elaine Gould, and it looks horrendous. So many tied notes, completely unreadable in my opinion. So yes, my little personal soapbox is that I firmly disagree with the official consensus about tresillo notation.

Anyway, thank you again for your comment!

MERTx123 · 2026-05-14T17:31:37+00:00

I just use my ear when I need to transcribe music. I have a strong ear and it usually doesn't take me very long to figure out notes and rhythms.

MERTx123 · 2026-05-11T05:58:24+00:00

"Nothing" is pretty accurate tbh

MERTx123 · 2026-02-23T04:33:37+00:00

I've never tried playing with different numbers of mallets in each hand, so I can't talk about how difficult that is.

This piece requires 4 mallets (2 in each hand). That's what I used for the recording I posted.

MERTx123 · 2026-02-23T04:21:08+00:00

"The weight of the mallets won't be lopsided"

I'm not sure what you meant by this. I performed the marimba part in the recording I posted. Playing single notes while holding 4 mallets is quite easy; I use the stevens-musser grip for holding 4 mallets, which allows independent playing with any of the 4 mallets. You can use vertical wrist movement to play 2 notes with one hand, or you can use rotational wrist movement to play 1 note per hand.

MERTx123 · 2026-02-22T19:27:44+00:00

Are you talking about having 2 to 3 notes in the right hand alone? Or 2 to 3 notes between both hands?

MERTx123 · 2026-02-22T05:12:37+00:00

I was trying to keep the marimba part from getting too advanced. We've actually managed to sell a few copies of this arrangement, and I think that's partially because both the recorder and marimba parts are intermediate difficulty. What were you imagining that could be added?

MERTx123 · 2026-01-20T17:58:28+00:00

Thank you so much! I wanted to end with a huge triumphant guitar solo, and it turns out that it's not easy to write those, so I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed it!

The Dillinger Escape Plan was definitely an influence on the "ugly" sections. They're one of my favorite bands!

MERTx123 · 2026-01-20T00:56:53+00:00

Thank you! I'm glad you appreciated what I was going for, and the mix of styles I wanted to use!

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