Nick Parnell's High Five

Historical article recovered from a Wayback capture dated 2018-02-24.

Celebrated as one of the most exciting vibes players in the world today, Nick Parnell makes old music new again, injecting energy into a repertoire that might be familiar to some, but definitely inspirational to all. With a spirit of recklessness, Parnell takes one of the newest of classical instruments and gives it a genre-bending makeover.

Steel yourself for his mallets of musical mastery.

Vibraphone/noun - a musical percussion instrument with a double row of tuned metal bars each above a tubular resonator. Contains a pedal to control sustain. Most impressively (and physically) played with four mallets. Emits a mellow and smooth singing tone.

Born in the Australian outback town of Orroroo, Nick Parnell began teaching himself drums in his parents’ sheep shearing shed at the age of ten.

Such humble beginnings ignited a passion in Parnell that has led to accolades including first place in the International Melbourne Percussion Competition, the Centenary of Federation Medal awarded by the Australian Government (for contribution to the arts) and the Dame Roma Mitchell Churchill Fellowship.

Parnell underwent formal training at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, University of Adelaide (Australia), where he completed his PhD. During this period he also studied and undertook master-classes with many of world’s great percussionists including Uffe Savery from the famed Safri Duo, Evelyn Glennie and Gary Burton.

A creative spirit who believes a greater level of artistry is possible, Parnell very quickly became attracted to the musicality, subtlety and beauty of the vibraphone, to which he has applied his dexterity to become one of the world’s great vibraphone virtuosos. However, his talents extend across a range of percussion instruments – 50 at a guess – including marimba, tuned gongs, bamboo chimes, cymbals and various exotic ethnic drums.

Parnell continues to strengthen his performing skills with a cache of international ensembles – including the English National Ballet, Russian Ballet Company, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Australian String Quartet. He has appeared at the Australia High Commission (UK & KL), Melbourne Recital Centre, Sydney’s City Recital Hall, and was the first solo percussionist to play in the Art Gallery of NSW’s prestigious Resonate concert series.

Festival appearances include Adelaide and Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, International Canberra Chamber Music Festival, Musica Viva, Adelaide Contemporary Music Festival, International Barossa Music Festival, Womadelaide and Australia’s first International Percussive Arts Society Festival.

Over the years, Parnell has proudly shared the stage with a number of inspirational artists, the likes of concert pianists Simon Tedeschi, David Helfgott (as immortalised in the biopic Shine) and Michael Kieran Harvey (1993 Ivo Pogorelic Piano Competition joint winner), shakuhachi grand master Riley Lee (TaikOz), didgeridoo virtuoso Mark Atkins (Led Zepplin/Philip Glass) and marimba soloist Bogdan Bacanu (Austria). He has worked with many distinguished conductors including Gunther Schuller, Lorraine Vaillancourt and Olari Elts.

A renegade on many fronts who actively embraces the crossover between different music genres, Parnell was the featured soloist in the ASO’s 2006 Edge series where he performed orchestral versions of rock songs. He has given numerous performances for ABC Classic FM’s National Sunday Live programs and made Australian premieres of new compositions including Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür’s percussion concerto, Magma.

Parnell attracted world-wide attention by recording one of the world’s first solo classical vibraphone albums, Classical Vibes, for ABC Classics in Australia, which followed his debut album, Generally Spoken It’s Nothing but Rhythm. His subsequent performances were met with critical acclaim. Also a passionate educator, Parnell has presented hundreds of master-classes from schools to universities including the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Elder Conservatorium of Music, West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and University of Melbourne.

As one of the first musicians to bring the vibraphone to the attention of the classical music world, Parnell’s ongoing ambition is to break down the elitism of classical music and make it available for everyone to enjoy.

1. EVELYN GLENNIE WITH QSO – Elder Hall, Adelaide

The first ever percussion soloist I saw play was Evelyn Glennie in Elder Hall in Adelaide. I was 12 years old at the time. Seven years later she returned to Australia to play James Macmillan’s percussion concerto Veni Veni Emmanuel with the Queensland Symphony. After a two day drive from Adelaide to Brisbane with some uni mates, we finally arrived and were ready for the gig. Her percussion instruments rose out of the floor amongst a haze of smoke and then she appeared. A tiny lady, but from the first note it was obviously she played with the power of giant. Her energy was infectious and the audience was left in no doubt that she wasn’t here to take prisoners. I was so inspired by her performance that years later I learnt the concerto for a performance with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Because of her many performances of the piece, it has affectionately become known as Veni Veni Evelyn Glennie!

2. SAFRI DUO - Adelaide Town Hall

I was about 20 years old when I saw these two Danish percussionist do their thing. The stage was covered with every type of percussion instrument you could imagine; drums, timpani, vibraphone, xylophone, Chinese gongs and most impressively two giant grand marimbas. The Safri Duo played a program of contemporary works by composers such as Miki, combined with classical transcriptions. The most striking was their renditions of J.S. Bach’s suites with they had adapted for two marimbas. I was awe struck at their power, grace and commitment to the music. So much so that the next year I moved to Copenhagen for a time to study with them. They have shaped my playing ever since.

3. KEIKO ABE - Nashville Tennessee

Before I discovered the beauty of the vibraphone, I was a mad marimba nut! I loved it, I couldn’t get enough of it and my favourite marimba soloist was Keiko Abe from Japan. So when I saw she was performing at Percussive Arts Society convention in America, I went straight down the travel agent and bought a plane ticket. From the very first note I could tell she had magic in her playing. There was something about her touch, the way she moved and was at one with the music that you just can’t explain. Then came the rich, powerful chords as she she struck the low end of her giant 5 octave marimba - the sound is undeniably “Keiko Abe”. No one sounds like her, and no one ever will. A living treasure of the percussion world - the God Mother of the marimba.

4. GARY BURTON AND CHICK COREA - Hammer Hall, Melbourne.

Gary Burton is my favourite vibes player. He not only popularized the method of playing with 4 mallets (known as the Burton grip), but re-defined what was technically and musically possible to achieve on the instrument. But what I believe really defines him, is his sound. Smoother than his predecessors such as Lionel Hampton and Red Norva, and yet more exciting due to the power with which he plays. Put Gary Burton together with one of the great Jazz pianists of all time, Chick Corea, and you’ve got a match made in heaven. The atmosphere was electric in Hammer Hall as these two masters took to the stage. For the rest of the evening I was mesmerized with the ease in which Burton and Corea played their instruments. The Burton sound, technique and approach has influenced the way I play the vibraphone more so than any other musician.

5. THE NEW GARY BURTON QUARTET - Blue Note, New York

This is the most recent performance I’ve seen of Gary Burton. It took place only a couple of years ago in New York’s famous Blue Note jazz club. It featured his new band including Julian Lage on guitar, Scott Colley on Bass and Antonio Sanchez on drums. Witnessing interaction between all the group members was fascinating. The bass would suggest a rhythmic idea, and the drums would respond with just the right pattern on the snare and cymbal. The vibes and guitar when played in unison was quite hypnotic, almost sounding like one new instrument. And of course the master Gary Burton, with his amazing improvised solos, never ceases to amaze!