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Published: Monday, 11 November 2024 at 10:13 AM
The marimba: all you need to know about the ‘flutey’ sounding percussion instrument
The marimba is a percussion instrument consisting of wooden bars that, when struck by a mallet, produces a soft and mellow sound, not dissimilar to a woodwind instrument. Like a xylophone, piano or glockenspiel, the marimba is a tuned instrument, with the wider, longer bars producing the lowest-pitched notes and the narrower, shorter bars producing the highest.
What does the marimba sound like?
It’s often supposed that the marimba must sound a lot like a xylophone, the instrument it most resembles in appearance. Does it?
Not quite: its range is lower and its sound is softer and more ‘flutey’. That’s because it uses a different tuning method, which gives it a similar harmonic structure to wind and string instruments.
What are the mallets made of?
Mallets typically have a rubber head wrapped with yarn, and a shaft made of wood, rattan, or fiberglass. The hardness of the mallet depends on the note being played, with softer mallets used for lower notes and harder mallets for higher notes.
How many mallets do you need to play the marimba?
Generally two (one in each hand) or four (two in each hand). But there are some people who use six (three in each hand), or even four in each hand for a grand total of eight.
Who invented the marimba and when?
Nobody is one hundred per cent sure who invented the marimba. Some say it originated in Southeast Asia in the 14th century. Others claim it came from Africa, where holes were dug in the ground, wooden bars were made to cross over them, and the bars were struck to produce sound. One particular legend credits a Zulu goddess named Marimba with creating the instrument by hanging gourds (resonating chambers) below wooden bars.
One way or another, though, the instrument made its way to South America in the 16th century, possibly brought there by African slaves.
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How has the instrument evolved?
Mostly in terms of range, which has expanded to somewhere between four to five octaves. Over the years, the gourds that were suspended below the wooden bars were replaced with wooden resonators, and then eventually with modern metal resonator pipes, allowing for more precise tuning of pitch.
How much does a marimba cost?
Marimbas can vary widely in price, though you can expect to pay around £3000-£5000 for a decent instrument.
How do you play the marimba?
Simple answer: by hitting the middle of the wooden bars with mallets.
But of course, that’s much easier said than done, as learning to play with several mallets is a feat of multitasking. This video will take you through the basics.
What are the best works for marimba?
Although its appearance in orchestral works is rather sporadic, the marimba has been steadily gaining a foothold in classical repertoire since the 1940s or so. Amongst its chief ambassadors was the composer Pierre Boulez, whose innovative and unflinching 1955 chamber cantata Le marteau sans maître gave the marimba a meaty role, alongside an alto singer and five other instruments.
More immediately accessible, however, are the variety of marimba concertos that have come our way in the last 50 years or so. Among the most popular of these are Emmanuel Séjourné’s vibrant and melodically rich Marimba Concerto, written in 2015; and the Marimba Concerto No. 1, written in 1986 by the Brazilian composer Ney Rosauro, which is awash with Brazilian motifs and rhythms and catchy melodies.
The marimba has also appeared in other genres, including the traditional music of various Latin American nations such as Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, where it is a symbol of culture. It’s also used in jazz and pop music, not least Frank Zappa’s The Mothers of Invention and the Rolling Stones 1966 song ‘Under My Thumb.’
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