Play percussion? Good cord mallets in your bag.

February 17, 2009

Earlier today I had a music ed. student come into my office and ask for another copy of the Percussion Ensemble course syllabus since he had lost his and was wanting to finally purchase the items he needed for that course i.e. stick bag, timp. mallets, concert snare sticks, etc. Well, part of that list of needed items are two pairs of marimba mallets. He also asked if he needed vibe mallets, a very valid question since he is taking a course that revolves around playing various percussion instrument. He learned a very valuable lesson today-invest in some good cord mallets!

With cord, you'll have greater durability than yarn and you can have a great range of uses as opposed to just vibraphone or just marimba. With cord, you can easily segue from vibes to marimba to a nice suspended cymbal roll.

Pros:

• durability
• different choice of sounds
• versatility-marimba, vibes, cymbals, blocks, etc.
  

Cons:

• vibe mallets are shorter and a slight disadvantage for larger intervals on the marimba
• doesn't allow you the fullest of range from the needed lushness of the lower register to a full articulate sound on the upper register

I'm sure there are more pros and cons to using vibe mallets, but I must admit that I am a huge fan of the Mike Balter Pro Vibe Series, especially his medium blue and soft red mallets. While in college I started a farily large collection of mallets for my bags and I would find myself constantly returning to a select few models for general work-Balter blues, Balter reds, Leigh Stevens line and now...the Gifford Howarth line through Vic Firth.

When I started learning the Bach Cello Suites on marimba, I went through every possible combination of mallets to make sure I had an even sound across the instrument, but I found myself coming back to the Balter reds of the Pro Vibe Series. I love the warmth, yet articulation of the reds during the lower third of the instrument.

As I mentioned a little earlier, the Malletech Leigh Stevens and Vic Firth Gifford Howarth Series are amongst my favorites to use, particularly in a solo setting.