Estrellas Azules

Spanish for "blue stars," Estrellas Azules is a vibraphone solo featuring a lyrical, sweet melody using extended four-mallet techniques while bringing in the use of the motor. It explores voice leading and phrasing through mallet dampening and pedaling to demonstrate a high level of musical interpretation and expression. The piece juxtaposes two contrasting styles of music to present a wide variety of musicality for the performer. The first presents a playful shuffle feel to give the sense of a classic, timeless lullaby sound found in a music box. This is brilliantly defined in the vibrato of the motor, creating an imaginative perspective to mimic the twinkling of stars in the distance. In the second style, the vibraphone takes on a pianistic role in a half-time ballad feel to demonstrate a modern approach to the instrument.