Vida Chenoweth

American musician

Vida Chenoweth (October 18, 1928 – December 14, 2018) was a solo classical marimbist, an ethnomusicologist, and a linguist. Credited with being the first to perform polyphonic music on the marimba and for doing for the marimba what Pablo Casals did for the cello and Andrés Segovia did for the guitar, she made her solo debut in Chicago in 1956, followed by a successful recital in New York. She subsequently gave concerts throughout the US and in Europe and the Americas. Chenoweth, with her premiere of the Kurka marimba concerto in 1959, joined marimbist Ruth Stuber as one of the very few marimbists to perform in Carnegie Hall up to that time. Stuber premiered Paul Creston's "Concertino for Marimba with orchestra," which he had written for her, in Carnegie Hall in 1940. After a hand injury when she was in her early 30s, she played a self described farewell concert in Oklahoma in 1962 and retired from marimba performance to focus on mission work. She studied musicology and bible translation and became a missionary in New Guinea where she used her musicology training in developing her Christian message with indigenous music. She was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1985 and into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1994 .

Chenoweth's family owned a music store in Enid, Oklahoma and she was encouraged by her older brother to take up classical marimba. Sydney David, a local music teacher, gave her initial instruction on the marimba in 1941. and is named as one of the two thousand outstanding musicians of the twentieth century. In 1990, Chenoweth was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune while a professor at the Conservatory of Music, which housed more than 700 tapes she had recorded.

1957. “The Marimba Comes into Its Own.” Music Journal (May–June). 1959. “Made in Guatemala.” American Record Guide (May). 1959. “The Marimba.” International Musician (November). 1961. “The Differences Among Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone.” The Instrumentalist (June), 68. 1962. “Pioneering the Marimba.” Music Journal (September). 1963. “The Language of Hymns.” Practical Anthropology 10 (6). 1963. “Defining the Marimba and the Xylophone Inter Culturally.” Percussionist 1 (1). 1963. “Mallet Position with 2 Mallets.” Percussionist10 (2). 1963. “4 Mallet Technique.” Percussionist 10 (2). 1964. “The Marimba, A Challenge to Composers (Part 1).” The Ludwig Drummer 4 (1). 1964. “The Marimba, A Challenge to Composers (Part 2).” The Ludwig Drummer 4 (2). 1964. “Pioneering the Marimba.” Percussive Notes (December). 1966. “Correspondence Re Ethnic Hymnody.” The Bible Translator. 17 (2). 1966. “Song Structure of a New Guinea Highlands Tribe.” Ethnomusicology 10 (3):285–97. 1967. “The Voice of Music.” New Guinea Informant, April, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea. 1968. “Managalasi Mourning Songs.” Ethnomusicology 12 (3):415–18. 1969. “An Investigation of the Singing Styles of the Dunas.” Oceania 39 (3):218–30. 1970. “Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs.” (Wycliffe Bible Translators) Translation 5 (3). 1971. “The Marimba and the Xylophone.” The School Musicican (February). 1971. “Let the New Guineans Sing.” Sharing, October, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea. 1973. “Music of Papua New Guinea.” Grove’s Dictionary of Music. New York: St. Martin’s. 1977. “Musical Literacy.” READ: The Adult Literacy and Literature Magazine 12 (2–3). 1977. “Musical Literacy.” READ: The Adult Literacy and Literature Magazine 12 (4). 1978. “Musical Literacy.” READ: The Adult Literacy and Literature Magazine 13 (1): 38–39. 1979. “The Christian Musician’s Role within a Cultural Context.” (MS) monograph for Faith and Learning Seminar, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. 1980. “Music of Papua New Guinea.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 14:88–96. London: Macmillan. 1980. “Descriptive Linguistics and the Ethnomusicologist.” Wheaton College Scholastic Honor Society Reports, 83. Wheaton, IL. 1981. Review of “Sound producing Instruments in Traditional Society: A Study of Esoteric Instruments and their Role in Male Female Relations.” 1981 Yearbook for Traditional Music, 21–23. Port Moresby: Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. 1982. Review of “Ethnomusicology: Pacific Issue.” The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 91: 311–13. 1983. Review of Music of Oceania: Papua New Guinea: The Middle Sepik. Musicaphon disc no. BM 30 SL 2700, and Music of Oceania: Papua New Guinea: The Iatmul of Papua Niugini, Musicaphon disc no. BM 30 SL 2701, Institute for Musicology of the University of Basle. The Journal of the Polynesian Society 2:145–47. 1984. “Guidelines for Developing a Hymnody in the Indigenous Church.” (Summer Institute of Linguistics) Accent on Anthropology, March. 1984. Review of Bikmaus: A Quarterly Journal of Papua New Guinea Affairs, Ideas and Arts. (Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies)1984 Yearbook of Traditional Music, 132–33. 1984. “Spare Them Western Music!” Evangelical Missions Quarterly 20:30–35. 1985. “Music in Cross Cultural Communication.” (Summer Institute of Linguistics) Notes on Anthropology 1, 12–14. 1985. “Practicing Hints.” In Master Technique Builders for Vibraphone and Marimba, ed. Anthony Cirone, 73–75. Miami: Belwyn Mills. 1986. “Music as Discourse.” Word; Journal of the International Linguistic Association 37 (1–2): 135–139. 1987. “Lost in Music.” The Market Place: The International Magazine for Papua New Guinea. 1988. “Documenting Papua New Guinea Legends.” READ: The Adult Literacy and Literature Magazine 23 (2): 30. 1989. “I Remember When .” The Three Arts Club of Chicago, 75th Anniversary Special, Vol.2, No.1, March Chicago
1994. “The Eastern Highlands.” In Universe of Music History, ed. Richard Moyle. Auckland: University of Auckland Press. 1995. “Cultural Change and Music Literacy.” Occasional Papers in Pacific Ethnomusicology 4, Anthropology Dept., University of Auckland. 1995. “March 6.” Stones of Remembrance (devotional calendar), 65. Wheaton, IL: Wheaton College. 1996. “Melanesia.” In Music Cultures of the Pacific, the Near East, and Asia, 3rd ed., 14. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 1996. “Perseverance and Patience.” (Summer Institute of Linguistics) EM News 5 (1): 1–2. 1996. “The Etic Emic Distinction Applied to Music Analysis.” The Twenty Third LACUS Forum, The Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States, Chapel Hill. 1997. “If Universals in Music Exist.” In Festschrift for Harold M. Best, Retiring Dean of Wheaton Conservatory of Music. Wheaton, IL: Wheaton College. 1997. “1997 Cook Islands Recording Project: A Report.” Newsletter of the Fellowship of Christian Percussionists 4 (2). 1998. “Library of Congress Archiving Report.” (Summer Institute of Linguistics) EM News 17 (1). 1998. “6 Mallet Etude.” Percussion News, July. 1998. “The Marimba, a Challenge to Composers.” Penn Sounds, Winter. 1999. Following articles in Encyclopedia of World Music: Australia and the South Pacific, ed. Adrienne L. Kaeppler and J. W. Love. New York: Garland. “Tannese Festivals,” 63–65; “Music as Knowledge: Tonal Centers,” 296; “Structure: Melodic Structure in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea,” 302–3; “Compositional Processes: Investigating Usarufa Composition,” 357–58; “Musical Composition in Irian Jaya/West Papua,” 360–61; “Dreaming Music on Mota,” 362; “Enga Province,” 533–36; Abelam: A Musical View,” 550–52; “West Sepik Province,” 560–61; “Morobe Province: Buang,” 566–67; “Komba,” 571–72; “Umboi and Its Music,” 574–76; “Irian Jaya/ West Papua Province of Indonesia,” 578–79; “New Ireland Province,” 626–27; “North Solomons Province: Halia,” 640–42; “Teop Island,” 642–44; “Buin,” 651–54; “Solomon Islands – Isabel Province,” 657–59; “Vanuatu – Mota, Banks Islands,” 698–702. 1999. “Do Universals in Music Exist?” Evangelical Missions Quarterly 35 (2):161–63. 2000. The Significance of Music in the Holy Bible: With Emphasis on Instrumental Music in the Old Testament. Enid, OK: Dougherty. 2001. Review of The Value of Indigenous Music in the Life and Ministry of the Church: The United Church in the Duke of York Islands, by Andrew Midian. The Contemporary Pacific, 604–5. 2001. “Your Flight.” Percussive Notes, December. 2001. “The Influence of Linguistic Processes on Ethnic Music Analysis.” Paper presented at TAONGA of the Asia Pacific Rim, Conference of the New Zealand Society of Music Educators & International Society of Music Educators, Auckland. 2002. “Perseverance and Patience.” Ethnodoxology, December. 2005. “Earth Drum.” Percussive Notes: Journal of the Percussive Arts Society 43 (5): 48. 2006. “What Do You Mean by ‘Transcribe’?” Percussive Notes: Journal of the Percussive Arts Society 44 (1): 36. ——— and Darlene Bee. 1968. “On Ethnic Music.” Practical Anthropology 15 (5). (Translated into Spanish, 1979, Dialogo Hermandad Maya 10:5–19.) ——— 1969. “Our Language Is Too Hard.” Translation (Wycliffe Bible Translators; October–December). ——— 1971. “Comparative Generative Models of a New Guinea Melodic Structure.” American Anthropologist 73 (3):733–82. ——— (contributing author). 1981. “Melanesia: Papua New Guinea.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 12. London: Macmillan,

1950. Hommage à Bartók, for marimba and piano. 1951. Pointillism, for marimba, flute and clarinet (optional cello/ drum)
1953. Invention (#1), for solo marimba. 1956. Granada, arranged for solo marimba. New York: Southern Music. 1993. Four Central American Folk Tunes, for solo marimba. Everett, PA: HoneyRock. 1994. Lament, HoneyRock Music Publishers, Everett, PA
1997. Three for Four Mallets, oral tradition arranged for solo marimba. Everett, PA: HoneyRock Music. ———, ed. 1993. Marimba: 7 Bach Chorales. Miami, FL: CPP/Belwin.