Marimba, Vibe, and Percussion Technique

I've been looking around and found very little about serious percussion technique, which is a shame. Pitched and Unpitched percussion can do so much for a piece, and there's so much music out there for marimba and vibes and timpani and...and...you get where I'm going with this. I specialize in performance on marimba and vibes, and can answer any questions on technique, or limitations, or what's playable with 4 mallets and what's not and what can you do with 2, etc. Of course, I'll answer questions on any percussion questions you might have.

I posted this in another topic, but I might as well ask you...

Is there anyway to pitch bend on vibes so it can be heard by someone whos's not standing right next to you? (Microphones don't help it that much...)

~Kal

Ah i just saw your post in that other forum. that's an interesting technique..haven't seen it before, but it makes sense. reducing the length of the bar by pressing on the node. That's pretty cool. I would imagine that it depends on the type of mallets. The bars don't like to vibrate when the mallet's being slid on it like that if you've got a funky thickness of cord on your mallet. Try expierimenting with different cord mallets, but I don't know how loud it could be. It doesn't seem like it could be that loud though. It's almost like using a bow on a violin string, but with a cord mallet on a metal bar. I think it may depend on how many little nicks and things are on the bar and how coarse or fine the cord, to get it to vibrate stronger. Or just move it closer to the audience. That works too. Hope this helps

Is there anyway to pitch bend on vibes so it can be heard by someone whos's not standing right next to you? (Microphones don't help it that much...)

Bow it with a cheap violin bow

Or, get a pickup: Vibraphone Amplification - K&K Sound

Also try a harder mallet, hard rubber, even plastic for bending the note. It may cause minor scratches in the bars, but nothing serious. The harder both mallets are, the more audible the effect will be.

Cello and bass bows also work better than violin and viola bows, they're also stronger.

Next time I'll try using my 'glockenspiel' mallets. (What an ugly name! It sounds like a kind of mutt or something...)

~Kal