Very interesting. I wrote a piece for marimba solo and at that time I was thinking if bowing could be accomplished in 5-octave marimba, I'm glad it is. Is there any special notation for this? also is there any "prefered range" whereas this technique sounds better?
Thank you! As far as I know it is usually just the wanted note value with a ligature above, or at least, I prefer it that way. It's easier in the lower range, I'd say that the lowest 3,5 ocatves are no problem but when you go higher it gets trickier, since you need some pretty tough hartz on the bow it tends to lift the bar in the higher ranges which makes it wobble which leads to the tone sound like a tremolo on violin. There are work arounds, you can use different angles with the bow but that makes the tone less potent. I think I have a video up on my channel where I shortly demonstrate the ranges. Thank you for your questions!
Cool! What kind of mallet is it? a hard mallet would make the work? Also, how would you explain it? to bend downwards you apply pressure from the top of the bar to the center and upwards from the center to the bottom?
I used a very hard vibraphone mallet for this, rattan shafts a preferred as you apply a lot of force. It's easier with xylophone mallets but they leave marks on the bars so I do not recommend it. You can actually only bend downwards as far as I know, however if you start the tone bended you can unbend it. The fundamental nodes on the marimba (where the strings passes) has barely any vibration so you can start to apply force there. The key is to make the mallet resonate with the bar. More mass, lower tone. You can use three mallets in one hand to lower the tone, I think I reached a B flat or A form the lowest C. To make the tone bend you just drag it towards the center, the closer you get the lower the tone. You can watch tutorials how you bend on vibraphone, it's same thing. The only difference is that a marimba has a short sound so you will have lengthen it, I used a bow but I bet there are more ways.
I use hard vibraphone mallets, I used Elite mallets hardest mallets. It works with almost anything, I've succeeded with my knuckle, but don't use birch handle, I've snapped three mallets that way.
The thing is that I wrote the thesis in my native language which is swedish. If you still want it you can send me an email and I'll send you links to them. In my bachelor I tried to find the techniques that I use in the master thesis, the master thesis is based on using the techniques in a colaboration with composers.
I have never tried, but I guess that will work but to a lesser degree. Thicker bars makes the use of bow more difficult in the same way that it is more difficult in the higher registers the same goes for bending. In a lower register I think it would be very subtle on xylophone.
@@viktorhallin2084 Thanks for your reply. I'm going to try some different things with a percussionist today so I guess I'll get to hear for myself then! 😄
@@viktorhallin2084 Sure! I guess the main takeaway was that on the xylophone you're limited to the lower notes when bowing, and that the marimba, while it clearly works as you show in your videos, doesn't seem to offer the same dynamic control that the vibraphone does. So in the end I decided that while I'm not really looking for an 'angelic' effect like you would usually get out of a bowed vibraphone, it's still most suitable for the piece I've just started working on, which requires percussion to mix with long, sustained sounds from a string quartet.
@@CarterMuller Thank you for the input! I do agree that there is a lack in dynamic range, however, there are some things you can do to widen the range. For low volume, you can start with a rather acute angle with the bow, say about 30 degrees, and you can create what I would consider a pp, but if you want ff you are gonna be in for some problems. I'd say forte is max. It's also very dependent on what type of hartz you use. I use double bass hartz, which makes lower volume more difficult but much easier to get the sound going.
Видеоклипы
This got recommended to me under vibraphones
0:13 AMONGUS
Very interesting. I wrote a piece for marimba solo and at that time I was thinking if bowing could be accomplished in 5-octave marimba, I'm glad it is.
Is there any special notation for this? also is there any "prefered range" whereas this technique sounds better?
Thank you! As far as I know it is usually just the wanted note value with a ligature above, or at least, I prefer it that way.
It's easier in the lower range, I'd say that the lowest 3,5 ocatves are no problem but when you go higher it gets trickier, since you need some pretty tough hartz on the bow it tends to lift the bar in the higher ranges which makes it wobble which leads to the tone sound like a tremolo on violin. There are work arounds, you can use different angles with the bow but that makes the tone less potent. I think I have a video up on my channel where I shortly demonstrate the ranges. Thank you for your questions!
@@viktorhallin2084 thank you for your answers, Viktor
Cool! What kind of mallet is it? a hard mallet would make the work? Also, how would you explain it? to bend downwards you apply pressure from the top of the bar to the center and upwards from the center to the bottom?
I used a very hard vibraphone mallet for this, rattan shafts a preferred as you apply a lot of force. It's easier with xylophone mallets but they leave marks on the bars so I do not recommend it. You can actually only bend downwards as far as I know, however if you start the tone bended you can unbend it. The fundamental nodes on the marimba (where the strings passes) has barely any vibration so you can start to apply force there. The key is to make the mallet resonate with the bar. More mass, lower tone. You can use three mallets in one hand to lower the tone, I think I reached a B flat or A form the lowest C. To make the tone bend you just drag it towards the center, the closer you get the lower the tone. You can watch tutorials how you bend on vibraphone, it's same thing. The only difference is that a marimba has a short sound so you will have lengthen it, I used a bow but I bet there are more ways.
Is it a kind of superball?
@@Carlos-ro6jo no, I've tried those but the shafts are usually to brittle. These just vibraphone mallets, very hard thou.
@@viktorhallin2084 Thank you so much!
What mallet are you using to bend?
I use hard vibraphone mallets, I used Elite mallets hardest mallets. It works with almost anything, I've succeeded with my knuckle, but don't use birch handle, I've snapped three mallets that way.
Nice! Can this be done on Vibes?
Yeah, I actually stole this technique from the vibes!
Morning Dove Sonnet by Christopher Deane uses this extensively
Where can I find your thesis?
The thing is that I wrote the thesis in my native language which is swedish. If you still want it you can send me an email and I'll send you links to them. In my bachelor I tried to find the techniques that I use in the master thesis, the master thesis is based on using the techniques in a colaboration with composers.
Can you do the same on the xylophone?
I have never tried, but I guess that will work but to a lesser degree. Thicker bars makes the use of bow more difficult in the same way that it is more difficult in the higher registers the same goes for bending. In a lower register I think it would be very subtle on xylophone.
@@viktorhallin2084 Thanks for your reply. I'm going to try some different things with a percussionist today so I guess I'll get to hear for myself then! 😄
@@CarterMuller Good Luck! If you can be bothered I'd like to hear your thoughts on the results!
@@viktorhallin2084 Sure! I guess the main takeaway was that on the xylophone you're limited to the lower notes when bowing, and that the marimba, while it clearly works as you show in your videos, doesn't seem to offer the same dynamic control that the vibraphone does. So in the end I decided that while I'm not really looking for an 'angelic' effect like you would usually get out of a bowed vibraphone, it's still most suitable for the piece I've just started working on, which requires percussion to mix with long, sustained sounds from a string quartet.
@@CarterMuller Thank you for the input!
I do agree that there is a lack in dynamic range, however, there are some things you can do to widen the range. For low volume, you can start with a rather acute angle with the bow, say about 30 degrees, and you can create what I would consider a pp, but if you want ff you are gonna be in for some problems. I'd say forte is max.
It's also very dependent on what type of hartz you use. I use double bass hartz, which makes lower volume more difficult but much easier to get the sound going.