About four years ago I finally purchased my first
marimba. It’s only a four and a third octave instrument
of not well tempered bars of paduk wood, but it’s all
mine. I had unlimited access to the instrument for six
months, during which time I was able to get my Stevens
method back together as well as some of my old
repertoire and a good start on the Rosauro Concerto.
But soon I had to go on contract without it.
I was gone for about three months and when I
returned it was as if I was starting all over again from
the bottom. For the first two weeks it was painful to
say the least, and after that it was a tedious process
of re-memorization. This simply won’t work if I’m
going to keep the dream alive of performing marimba
recitals and appearances with orchestras around
the world. And so I’ve come up with this.
Using the very abundant piano and or small, affordable
and portable keyboards, a practice pad and latex mallets
I’ve been able to achieve an acceptable amount of chops
and repertoire together even during long contracts.
The first time for implementing this kind of practice
I had only my mallets with me and no keyboard access what
so ever. I carried on undaunted. I found a back stage
area with lawn furniture that was stored there or being
used for props or something of that nature. I combined the
long cushions from one of the reclining chairs with my
mallets and discovered that I had a great wide interval
practice pad. I focused on basic permutation exercises:
1234, 4321, 3421, 2134, 4312, & 1243.
I practiced these patterns slow fast slow like they
were drum rudiments. When I finally got my hands on a
real marimba again not only did I not have to endure
the two weeks of painful re-acclimation but my double
lateral strokes were stronger than ever. And so this
had been some of the best marimbatechnique practice I
ever performed. Who would have guessed? The dream lives on.
© 2011 Gabriel Kocevar