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If you're not familiar with the marimba, here are some
of the most often asked questions about it and its
performance practice.
"Where did the
instrument originate?"
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The marimba's
roots are ancient, extending to primitive peoples'
instincts to strike objects that produced musical tones:
not only wood, but also stone and metal slabs. These
practices existed in various forms in the cultures of
Africa, Latin America and Asia and are all, in some
sense, forerunners of the modern marimba.
The first crude
beginnings of the marimba were several slabs of wood
placed on sticks set over a hole in the ground which
served as a resonating chamber. Later, slabs of wood
were suspended over large gourds or wooden boxes which
served to enhance the tone.
Sources differ on
the specific area in which the marimba originated;
however, the
frontrunners in this debate
are Africa and the
highlands |
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Guatemala. It is interesting to note that the symbolic
and functional uses of the African marimba are very much
integrated into their culture. In Guatemala, the marimba
is still the national instrument; no party is complete
without its music.
The marimba that I
play today is quite different than these original folk
instruments. The development of the modern marimba in
this hemisphere can be traced to the Central American
marimba builders, notably Sebastian Hurtado, who
developed a chromatic arrangement of the bars laid out
like the piano keyboard during the 1890s. In 1880, John
Calhoun Deagan founded the first U.S. company to
manufacture percussion instruments, and built the first
real precursor to my marimba, with metal resonators,
around the 1920s. (Source: "The
Mysticism of the Marimba", copyright 1977 by James L.
Moore)
"Is the marimba
what Lionel Hampton played in jazz?"
No. He played a
vibraphone. It's a very close relative of the marimba
with keys arranged the same way, like a piano keyboard,
but the vibraphone's keys are made out of metal. Another
difference is that the vibraphone has a pedal which can
be used for sustain like the pedal on a piano. It also
has a motor which can be turned on to rotate discs (one
at the top of each resonator tube) which leave-open and
close-off the resonators. The speed of the rotation can
be regulated by the player. This gives the impression of
vibrato — which is how the instrument got it's name.
"Well then, what
is a xylophone?"
The xylophone is
another close relative of the marimba — actually, a
little bit closer relative than the vibraphone — for,
like the marimba, its keys are also made of wood and it
has no sustain pedal or motorized "vibrato"-discs.
However, the xylophone's range includes a full octave
above the marimba's — which means it extends up to the
top note of a piano.
"How do the
overall ranges of the three instruments — marimba,
vibraphone and xylophone — compare?"
I'll relate them
to a piano keyboard: |
 |
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| There are eight
Cs on a piano; the lowest note is an A. The lowest note
on my five-octave concert grand marimba is C2 (which, by
the way, is also the lowest note of a cello). There are
also many marimbas which don't extend quite that low.
Most vibraphones encompass three octaves, F3 to F6. Most
xylophones encompass three-and-a-half octaves, sounding
F4 to C8 (although xylophone music is written one octave
lower).
In some ways, you
could compare the relationship of the marimba,
vibraphone and xylophone to that of a cello, viola and
violin.
"What is the
marimba made out of?"
The keys are
always made of rosewood, most of which comes from
Guatemala. The frame of the marimba could be made out of
anything (various woods or synthetics); it doesn't
affect the sound in any way. Most resonator pipes are
made of aluminum. On some marimbas they are made of
brass (but these can be extremely heavy and difficult to
move).
"What do the
pipes hanging down do?"
They serve to
amplify the resonance of the bar. Each tube is capped
off at a particular length which will provide the
longest possible resonance. The high notes only require
a short amount of tubing before they are capped off.
Consider a bottle
of soda or beer; the more you drink (i.e., the emptier
the bottle gets), the lower the tone of the bottle is
when you blow into it. When the pitch of the resonator
matches that of the bar, the result is optimum resonance
of the marimba bar. |
The low notes require quite a long tube; in fact, for
the lowest notes on my marimba, the tube essentially
goes down and curves back up all within a larger oval
tube.
"What do you call
the hammers or sticks you're playing with, and why are
the heads different colors?"
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They're called
mallets. Frequently, they are different colors simply as
a coding system for mallets of varying hardness. In
general, softer mallets are most flattering to the
lowest notes on the marimba, and harder mallets are most
flattering to the higher notes. Players can achieve a
wide range of different tone colors by their choice of
different mallets, in conjunction the specific type of
stroke they use to bring the mallets into contact with
the keys.
"How do you hold
two mallets in each hand?"
It's a lot like
glorified chopsticks! There are several basic "grips,"
as they're called, or, popular methods of holding two
mallets in each hand. The one I use is called
Traditional Grip.
Sometimes people
even hold three mallets in each hand but, in general,
that really limits the different variations of widths
you can get between the mallets. With two mallets in
each hand, however, it's possible to drastically alter
the widths between the mallets, even very rapidly.
"How do you move
the instrument around?"
In a large station
wagon. It breaks down quite impressively. The "white
notes" and "black notes" of the keyboard are each strung
up like huge necklaces which can just lift off and roll
up. Each of the long braces across the instrument fold
in half. The banks of resonators fold in half. The
endpieces come off and go in separate cases. Eight or
nine cases total.
"Are there very
many marimbas like that in the world?"
There are more
five-octave concert grand marimbas in the world — made
by Marimba One or by other companies — than you might
think! My guess would be that, all told, there could be
about 1000 five-octave marimbas in the world.
I personally don't
own flight cases for my marimbas, so I can only perform
on my own instruments when I perform drive-able
distances from my home. But, with the growing popularity
of the instrument, I am fortunate to be able to borrow a
Marimba One five-octave marimba almost everywhere I
perform.
"How did you
start to play the marimba?"
The marimba is one
of the keyboard percussion instruments — a category
which also includes the vibraphone and xylophone, as
well as the glockenspiel and tubular chimes — which all
fit under the larger heading "percussion instruments."
These include the instruments you've seen played at the
back of the orchestra: the timpani (or kettledrums),
bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle and other
"toys." It also includes the drum set and many ethnic or
"world" percussion instruments.
The marimba is
primarily taught within this larger framework:
"percussion." I studied piano from the age of five but
switched to percussion at age 13. The marimba was just
one of the instruments that I studied within the
category of percussion. But then, in my early 20s
(around 1980), I decided to specialize on the marimba as
a solo instrument. That was an extremely rare thing to
do at the time; now there are many more players deciding
to specialize on the marimba.
Most college-level
percussion students today are required to study marimba
as one facet of their training. Some of them are quite
accomplished.
In the last decade
a handful of colleges have recognized specialized
marimba study and appointed specialized marimba teachers
to their faculties. I am fortunate to teach marimba in
two such programs. Berklee College of Music offers
Marimba as a principal instrument of study. (To my
knowledge, it is the only school in the world that
enables this at the undergraduate level). The Boston
Conservatory offers a Masters degree in Marimba.
Introduction
to the Marimba
By
Nancy Zeltsman |
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