pyromarimba621
Tiger Talk Trainee
Reged: Oct 10 2003
Posts: 2
Loc: Texas
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i was just wondering, if anybody knoes some good tips on how to get good at playing marimba or xylo. but what i really want to know is how to speed the movement of your playing up. if anyone knows, please tell me
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James Walker
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: Mar 18 2002
Posts: 1283
Loc: Connecticut
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Three things come to mind:
1) Take things you can play already (scales, arpeggios, excercises, etudes, etc.), and gradually start working them up to faster tempos.
2) IMHO the best way: make sure your technique is as efficient as possible - get rid of the unnecessary motions (like the "preparation stroke" - bringing the mallet head upwards prior to bringing it down on the bar). If a single mallet stroke is as efficient as possible, and thus takes as little time as possible, you'll be able to get more of those mallet strokes into a given period of time.
3) Focus your playing on two striking spots: on the upper manual, right on the edge nearest the player; on the lower manual, somewhere between the center of the bar and the nodal point nearest the upper manual. Minimizing this forward- and backward-motion will greatly assist in improving your speed (and accuracy). Focusing your playing on these two striking spots will greatly cut down on the distance your hands and arms have to travel when moving from one manual to the other, compared to what is required when striking dead-center on all of the bars.
Leigh Stevens' book, "Method of Movement for Marimba," has some great information regarding efficiency of technique and motion - I recommend it highly.
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afontanajr
Tiger Talk Trainee
Reged: Oct 04 2002
Posts: 4
Loc: Michigan
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My vibes insturctor has me doing an exercise where i do the following up and down the keyboard over two octaves:
C Major scale
C Nat Minor scale
C Har Minor scale
C Mel Minor scale (play nat minor when descending)
C Maj Chord (C-E-G-C)
C Min Chord (C-Eb-G-C)
C Dim Chord (C-Eb-Gb-Bbb) Bbb=A
C Half Dim Chord (C-Eb-Gb-Bb)
C Aug Chord (C-E-G#-C)
C Maj 7th Chord (C-E-G-B)
C Min 7th Chord (C-Eb-G-Bb)
C Min/Maj Chord (C-Eb-G-B)
C Dom 7th Chord (C-E-G-Bb)
on the way down, start the next key in place of the root starting point.
This has helped me twofold: 1)better recognition of the keyboard 2)increased speed and I've not gone through all the keys yet, but what a difference already! Good luck!
Tony
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L Lawless
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: Dec 24 2003
Posts: 282
Loc: TX
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Tony -
Just curious, who is your vibes instructor?
What you have written is an exercise I came up with for my students a number of years ago. I call it "The Gauntlet". Of course, it's just based on normal scale and chord patterns that everybody uses, but it's kind of funny sometimes for me to find that things I have taught to students come back to me years later. Wanted to see if maybe your instructor has any connection to me.
BTW, I also add the Dorian and Blues scales to the list.
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Dill
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: Dec 09 2003
Posts: 46
Loc: Texas
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quote:
Originally posted by James Walker:
Three things come to mind:
1) Take things you can play already (scales, arpeggios, excercises, etudes, etc.), and gradually start working them up to faster tempos.
2) IMHO the best way: make sure your technique is as efficient as possible - get rid of the unnecessary motions (like the "preparation stroke" - bringing the mallet head upwards prior to bringing it down on the bar). If a single mallet stroke is as efficient as possible, and thus takes as little time as possible, you'll be able to get more of those mallet strokes into a given period of time.
3) Focus your playing on two striking spots: on the upper manual, right on the edge nearest the player; on the lower manual, somewhere between the center of the bar and the nodal point nearest the upper manual. Minimizing this forward- and backward-motion will greatly assist in improving your speed (and accuracy). Focusing your playing on these two striking spots will greatly cut down on the distance your hands and arms have to travel when moving from one manual to the other, compared to what is required when striking dead-center on all of the bars.
Leigh Stevens' book, "Method of Movement for Marimba," has some great information regarding efficiency of technique and motion - I recommend it highly.
I couldn't agree more with Mr. Walker here. MOM is definitly worth more than the money you pay for it, and will be helpful throughout anyone's career, teaching or not. The only thing I can think of adding is for two mallets moving the fulcrum back to where the pinky/ring finger is. It's effective for some, not so effective for others. Personally it's helped me a ton on certain moving lines, etc. Hope this helps!
Dill
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