Pavanne For A Dead Princess for solo vibraphone by Ravel arr. Jon Wishnuff

The melodies in Ravel’s Pavanne For A Dead Princess are very beautiful. They are quite simple, but the accompaniment is quite thick and gets even thicker as the original melody repeats itself. In order to hear the simple melody, one must not let the accompaniment overwhelm the melody line. The melody lines need to be heard above the accompaniment. I use lots of stick mufflings, sometimes double stick mufflings, which allows for less pedaling and creates a very legato sound. The melody becomes clean while the chordal accompaniment rings through. The arrangement is challenging, but well worth it.