* Sharp * Sparkling * Resonate * Rich *

We know guitars.
Add banjos and mandolins and drums and fiddles.
But musical instruments number in the hundreds if not thousands. Many of them will rarely if ever be seen on or heard from mainstream music stages. That’s fine.
Take the marimba. Just don’t take Rebecca Kite’s beloved marimba.
“Marimbas have a fascinating history and I hope to the people as well,” Kite said.
Kite will perform twice on April 3, in the afternoon at Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap and then in the evening at University of Virginia’s College at Wise’s Chapel of All Faiths.
And yes, she plays the marimba. Realizing that most people know little to nothing about the extraordinarily varied instrument, she will speak about as well as play the marimba.
“I play the concert marimba, which is tuned like the piano,” Kite said by phone recently from her home in Northern Virginia. “It has a beautiful sound.”
However, pianos and marimbas are not the same. Instead, the marimba belongs in the percussion family, though it most certainly isn’t a drum. And yet, the marimba is something of a cousin to the piano.
“Yes, very much so, the concert marimba is,” Kite said. “But I think it sounds more like a classical guitar at times, though you can play transcriptions of piano music.”
Unlike drums, there are no drumheads on which to hit. Like the piano, marimbas are made of wood, though not just any wood.
“It’s made of rosewood,” Kite said. “In Guatemala, they call it the wood that sings. You can actually hear some of the low sounds in your body. It’s an all-enveloping sound.”
Kite will perform solo. No singers, no guitars or drums or fiddles. It’ll be just her, the marimba and a bevy of styles from which to choose.
“I can play classical, I play folk and can play lots of variety,” Kite said.
Consequential to the marimba, Kite added that such concerts can be quite visual. Her marimba is about 9 feet long. She stands while playing. Two and sometimes even six mallets will be in her hands, striking the marimba in rhythmic patterns.
“There’s a lot of movement,” she said. “It’s a lot like a dance, only with your arms and hands. I play some pieces with four mallets, and I’ll play one piece with six mallets, which gets a really full sound.”
Sounds from the marimba match its name. Full of rhythm, when played by such an expert as Kite, audiences will quickly realize why an accompanying band isn’t needed.
“It’s rich, beautiful, resonate, sometimes sparkling and sharp,” Kite said. “It’s almost never dissonant. It’s a pure sound. You can be overbearing depending on the mallets you use.”
Ultimately, music is music. We hear, ideally enjoy and therefore reach some sort of satisfaction. Music can move, touch places within us beyond the reach of words and also at times transport us from our daily doldrums.
There you go, said Kite.
“I’d like for them to forget what they did during their day of work,” Kite said, “and become immersed in the beauty of this music and the moods of the music.”

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .

IF YOU GO
Who: Rebecca Kite
When: April 3, 12:15 p.m. in Big Stone Gap, and 7:30 p.m. in Wise
Where: Mountain Empire Community College, Goodloe Center, Big Stone Gap; and University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Chapel of All Faiths, Wise
Info: (276) 376-4520
Web: www.rebeccakite.com
Also: www.pro-art-va.org