How to Play Four Mallet Marimba

Опубликовал Admin
25-09-2016, 02:50
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Learning to play the marimba is fun and rewarding, but once you’ve become proficient while using two mallets, the next step is learning to play with four mallets. Holding them and playing with them feels awkward at first, but after sufficient practice it will become like second nature.

Steps

  1. Put the first mallet between your pointer finger and thumb. The end of the mallet should reach to the center of your palm. The mallet is kept in place by your palm, pointer finger and thumb.
  2. Put the second mallet between your ring finger and your middle finger. The end of the mallet should reach to about the first line in your palm.
  3. Repeat steps one and two for the third and fourth mallets, which go in your other hand.
  4. Play the mallets that are between your thumb and pointer finger, you simply hold onto the mallet with those fingers and move it up and down. Try not to move your hand at all while doing this; only the mallet and the two fingers should move.
  5. Playing the mallet between your ring finger and pinkie is slightly harder. To make the movement, imagine that you’re opening a doorknob. In fact, a good way to practice this movement is by turning a doorknob a couple of times and paying particular attention to the rotation that occurs. You want to duplicate this rotation. Your wrist should twist slightly away from you, bringing the top of the mallet downward. With practice, this movement will become minimal – you won’t have to move your wrist very much at all to make the mallet move downward. As you play you'll teach yourself how to roll just imagine a doorknob you can't open and your twisting and turning it .

Tips

  • If you can’t seem to figure out how to play with four mallets or if you don’t improve within a week or two, ask a knowledgeable person (at a school or music store) to show you in person how it’s done.
  • If you are really interested in learning, take lessons diligently.
  • Don’t be frustrated if you can’t pick this up at a first. It takes a while to learn the right technique and be comfortable with it.
  • Some easy songs to learn four mallets with are “Yellow After The Rain” and “Sea Refractions,” which were both written by Mitchell Peters.
  • Buy 4 mallet method books such as: Method of Movement for Marimba by Leigh Howard Stevens, or Fundamental Method for Mallets by Mitchell Peters.

Things You'll Need

  • Marimba Mallets
  • Knowledge about playing the Marimba
  • Method Book (optional)
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