Extended techniques on the marimba

Extended techniques are ways of altering the natural sound of musical instruments. Some composers have introduced objects under the piano lid to rub, pluck, or strike directly on the strings, or to strike them with the hand. Perhaps the forerunner was the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849), who in his Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21 (1829), indicated for the string section a Col legno. That is...? That is, "strike the strings with the wood of the bow." The French composer Erik Satie (1866-1925; July will be the centenary of his death) inserted sheets of paper between the piano strings for the music of his work Piège de Méduse (The Trap of Medusa, 1913), achieving a uniquely vibratory sound. Over time, other composers experimented following Satie's example, among them the philosopher-musician John Cage (1912-1992). He composed Sonatas and Interludes (1948), an eccentric work if ever there was one (eccentric in the etymological sense, off-center, in this case, academic). He inserted nails and screws into the piano's soundboard, creating a completely innovative sound. Cage composed the piece 4'33'', during which the orchestra remains in complete silence. (The "performance" by the Berlin Philharmonic, "conducted" by its principal conductor, the Russian Kirill Petrenko, is a must-see.)

The Kronos Quartet —soundtrack of the tape 21 grams— , a frequent user of extended techniques, has experimented with the plucking of the strings of its instruments —two violins, a viola, a cello—, in, for example, Pizzicato Bartók .

The chubby creator of the bebop jazz style, Dyzzi Gillespie (1917-1993), used an altered trumpet: the bell bent 45° upwards, giving it a bright, high-pitched sound, sometimes bordering on shrill.

In contemporary Mexico, some composers have approached extended techniques, such as Veracruz-born Alicia Urreta (1930-1986), Convocatoria a un rito (1986); Mexico City-born Iván Naranjo (1977), Assemblage Theory II (2019); or Rogelio Sosa (1977), La noche del nahual (2019). However, percussionist Raúl Tudón has dedicated himself fully, already in three albums, to the intervention of a traditional Mexican instrument: the marimba.

Born in Mexico City in 1961, percussionist and composer Raúl Tudón is co-founder of the Tambuco percussion quartet, a name taken from the eponymous work by Carlos Chávez (1899-1978), written in 1964, for six percussionists. With the Tambuco quartet, Raúl Tudón has shared stages with the Kronos Quartet and Stewart Copeland (Ex Police), and has performed the difficult Quartet for Mallets for Two Marimbas and Two Vibraphones (2009) by Steve Reich (1936). (An unavoidable digression: Reich is the author of Clapping Music (1972), a piece performed by two musicians using clapping only.)

Tudón is the author of Sonidos líquido (Liquid Sounds ) (1994), for harp, marimba, and vibraphone, a work that reveals his experimental spirit. In his three albums for marimba, released on the Quindecim Recordings label, “Voces del viento, voces de la tierra, volume 1” (1996), “Voces del viento, voces de la tierra” volume 2 (2001), and “Naturaleza acústico, naturaleza eléctrica” (Acoustic Nature, Electric Nature) (2002), Tudón has gradually changed his approach to the marimba. At first, he replaced traditional mallets with various objects such as flutes, rain sticks, and hammers. However, in his third, “Naturaleza acústico, naturaleza eléctrica,” he explores the intervention of the marimba by rubbing the string bows against the keyboard, matching the marimba's frequency to that of bamboo flutes and panpipes, and accompanying them with zithers.

These experiments arose in the early 1990s, when he faced the lack of concert marimba works that offered new sounds. Shortly after, he wrote Quartet No. 2 for percussion keyboards (1996), released by Quindecim Recordings; later, he wrote Nine Trees (2005) for marimba and electronics.

Raúl Tudón's extended techniques school has borne fruit in Latin America, for example in El árbol y el viento (The Tree and the Wind), pieces for marimba and flute (2017) by the Argentine Octavio Cerúsico; Sextet for flute, clarinet in Bb, marimba, violin, viola and cello (2018), by the Venezuelan José Baroni; or Serenata a Due (Serenade a Due) for vibraphone, marimba and string orchestra (2024), by the Brazilian Ney Rosauro.

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At the 2025 Book Fair, which starts tomorrow, the record label Quindecim Recordings will be present, bringing its rich collection of Mexican classical music.