MARIMBIST TO PERFORM SUNDAY AT SOUTHEAST

Linda Maxey began studying the piano at age 4 and at 6 took up the marimba -- basically a xylophone with roots in Africa, South America and maybe even China.

From playing for the Kiwanis International Convention in Madison Square Garden at age 11, she went on to the prestigious Eastman School of Music and now has played marimba concerts all over the United States.

Maxey will perform Sunday at 3 p.m. at Academic Auditorium in a concert sponsored by the Community Concert Association.

Only a handful of people in the United Stats make a living by playing the marimba, says Dan Dunavan, percussion teacher in the Department of Music at Southeast.

In the marimba world, "she's kind of a big name," he said.

Twice Maxey has been a featured soloist at Percussive Arts Society international conventions.

In 1990 she performed at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

Maxey, who now lives in Lawrence, Kan., was first exposed to the instrument because her mother, a pianist, happened to have one. She was drawn to the marimba early by "the tone quality, the sound," she says. "And I think it's an interesting instrument to watch being played with all those mallets flying."

Dunavan, who plays the instrument, describes the marimba as "a very large xylophone." Unlike xylophones, marimbas usually are made of wood -- Honduran rosewood -- struck with rubber mallets.

A well-made U.S. marimba costs $10,000, but its origin is as a folk instrument.

"In South America it will be a family instrument," Dunavan said. "You will find four, five or six people playing it at one time."

In some parts of Africa, cobwebs are applied to the instrument's resonator, resulting in a different sound, Dunavan said.

Maxey "plays a lot of four-mallet stuff," Dunavan said, a technique that produces melody and harmony simultaneously.

Maxey presents a repertoire ranging from the classical to contemporary.

"Rhapsody in Blue," "Carmen Suite" and the venerable "Flight of the Bumblebee" are on her play list. As an orchestra soloist, Paul Creston's Concertino for Marimba and Orchestra and Saint-Saens' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso are favorites.

She has transcribed and arranged many of the pieces herself.

The concert also will offer a jazz section, featuring selections such as "Satin Doll."

Admission is free with Community Concert Association membership or a Southeast Missouri State University student ID. General admission is $10.