| Marimbas are wooden keyboard instruments in | | | | Depending on training and preference, a marimbist |
| the percussion family of instruments. Players | | | | may like the flexible shaft better than the ones |
| usually strike the keys with two - four mallets | | | | with no "give" or vice versa. The material that |
| and one instrument may be played by one or | | | | actually strikes the key is usually some type of |
| two players; depending on the orchestral piece, | | | | rubber wrapped in yarn. The marimba keys |
| you may even see three or more marimbists | | | | themselves will define which type of mallet is used |
| playing the same instrument. Marimbas are | | | | on which part of the keyboard. The harder |
| wooden instruments that resemble xylophones | | | | mallets are usually used to strike the high notes |
| and they accentuate the unique harmonies and | | | | and the softer mallets for the lower notes. This is |
| rhythms of the music. Other instruments in the | | | | particularly important in playing the marimba |
| percussion family include such instruments as | | | | because a mallet that is too hard for the keys it |
| cymbals, chimes, the triangle, bells, to name just a | | | | strikes may damage the instrument. |
| few. The marimba is a pitched percussion | | | | Most marimba music calls for several mallets to |
| instrument. Other pitched percussion instrument | | | | be used in one composition. It is not uncommon |
| examples include the timpani, the vibraphone, the | | | | to find 2-3 players stationed at the marimba |
| glockenspiel, and chimes | | | | during a performance. Because two or three |
| Marimbas are used mainly for 20th Century music | | | | people will wield four to six mallets, it is possible to |
| orchestral music, usually, as a sound effect or as | | | | hear beautiful chords coming from the instrument. |
| a solo instrument. The marimba actually had long | | | | Many marimba players also play with more than |
| solos in the soundtrack to the film American | | | | one mallet in each hand. Different methods have |
| Beauty. | | | | also been developed to hold the mallets necessary |
| The marimba keys are arranged like the keys of | | | | for a piece of music in one hand. The Burton grip |
| a piano and they may have as many as 4 - 5.5 | | | | and the Musser-Stevens grip are the two |
| octaves of professional Orff-style marimba bars. | | | | common methods of gripping multiple mallets and |
| The bars are tapped to play the notes, similar to | | | | each has its advantages and disadvantages. |
| the xylophone. Marimba bars are finely crafted | | | | The repertoires of bands in the United-States |
| from hardwoods such as rosewood, mahogany | | | | tend to overlap, probably due to the fact that |
| and padouk. The keys are fine-tuned to reflect | | | | most of the marimba music is composed by the |
| the tones played in African societies. | | | | Zimbabwean musician Dumisani Maraire. He is one |
| For marimbas in the United States, the resonators | | | | of the key people who first brought Zimbabwean |
| under the wooden bars are usually metal and | | | | music to the West, moving to and working at the |
| most likely aluminum. They are hollow metal pipes | | | | University of Washington in 1968. He was a |
| of different lengths with holes covered by thin | | | | master at playing an instrument known as the |
| cellophane (similar to the West African balafon). | | | | mbira which greatly resembles a small hand held |
| This is so that when the marimba is struck, you | | | | instrument known as the thumb piano. |
| can hear the buzzing sound characteristic of these | | | | A marimba is an expensive but beautiful |
| instruments. | | | | instrument. Professional marimbas start in the |
| The mallets generally have wooden shafts but | | | | $2,000 range for a used instrument. They add an |
| may be made of fiberglass, as well. Rattan shafts | | | | open tone to many different compositions that |
| are also available and they have a little bit of | | | | makes them very unique and sought after in the |
| "give" to them while other materials do not. | | | | instrument family. |