Marimba Lesson

Produced by the U.S. Army Field Band, Washington, D.C.
Do YOU have what it takes to be an Army percussionist, full time or part time?
Find out about the great pay, bonuses, and benefits at www.GoArmy.com for full time opportunities or www.1-800-Go-Guard.com for part time (or just send me a message and I'll send you in the right direction).
Benefits include free tuition, G.I. Bill, travel, free instrument usage, training, retirement after 20 years, health coverage, and much more.
Call 774-930-3626 or 508-674-4720 to join the 215th Army National Guard Band - Fall River, Massachusetts

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Keyboard
• Percussion
• Marimba
• Army
• Field
• Band
• 215th
• Drums

[YouChube3]

Ahh, music at ML is gay.

[gnargnarrads]

No harm done, trolling isn't my intention either.

I must insist it is better to keep one's fingers off of wooden marimba bars, though. Any lacquer that would protect the bars as effectively as you had mentioned would greatly compromise sound quality.

My percussion professor from undergrad was very animate about cleanliness of instruments and their covers. If nothing else, most professional musicians are grateful of conscious efforts to avert the passing of bacteria and viruses.

[TheDigitalMonk]

And by the way, my response was not meant to be a flame or attack against you (it kind of sounds that way when I read it now) so no worries :D

[TheDigitalMonk]

I'm pretty sure the "oils" thing is an old percussion wives tale so to speak. It really has no effect on the keys especially since all marimbas now are coated, making it easily cleanable if you somehow managed to get enough oil on it to damage the keys (which I don't really think is reasonably possible). I'm guessing a non-percussionist taught you this (a band director perhaps?) Also, the loss in volume I was talking about was because of his striking area, not the height of the keys.

[gnargnarrads]

It's common to lose volume on the upper keyboard as the bars are elevated from the white keys; playing on the edges of the bars can also compromise some sound but marimbists are supposed to be able to compensate by feel. This lesson is decent but I hate method videos where the instructor rubs the bars with their fingers while they talk about the instrument. The oils on our hands damage the bars and this is necessary information for beginners.

[phunnyplace]

@machogato08 Hahaha its cool then

[bennis07]

he was rolling with brushes

[TheDigitalMonk]

I thought it would be garbage,but this is quite legit. The only "problem" was some loss of tone when he played on the edge of the accidentals, but I suspect that may have been the fault of the particular instrument.

[machogato08]

hes using brushes, its a kind of drumstick, and what you do is, you brush LOL, they are used in jazz and soft balads, they are pretty tricky to master

[phunnyplace]

what was the snare player doing at 0:01 - 0:23