"Smile" by Charlie Chaplin, Arr. Alex Stopa (Performed by Elijah Jones)

"Smile" was composed in 1936 as the love theme for Charlie Chaplin’s acclaimed final silent movie Modern Times. (Even though the characters never spoke, earning the movie its “silent” moniker, there were sound effects and a score.) Some two decades later John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons added lyrics to Chaplin’s melody, and in 1954 “Smile”, sung by Nat King Cole on Capitol records, landed a spot on the Billboard charts. With its simple melody and optimistic lyrics, “Smile” is loved the world over and remains heartwarming and timeless almost a century after it was written. This arrangement for solo marimba highlights the warm and mellow characteristics of the middle to lower register of the instrument while giving a casual tip of the hat to ragtime pianists such as Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller and Jelly Roll Morton.
This performance played a part in the completion of my online senior recital to complete my Music Bachelors of the Arts Degree in Percussion Performance from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music (Class of 2021).
Thank you for watching and I hope you enjoy my performance!

[@AlexStopa]

Beautiful performance, Elijah! Bravo!

[@williamstenberg1220]

Very nice