Yesterday I went to
an audition workshop at the U of W for the music program. Naturally, it was a
long day and there was lots of waiting around. To keep us entertained, the
organizers kept showing different videos of performances. One that really hit
me was a recording of a student’s recital where he played a marimba. (A recital
is when music students prepare solo material to perform for an audience,
usually 45 minutes worth, as part of their program requirements.) That really
got me thinking. What a unique instrument. We don’t see it very often in North
America. It’s not really one that many people would be like “Hey, I wanna take
marimba lessons!” Which is unfortunate, because it’s a gorgeous instrument. So
this week, I’m dedicating my post to the marimba.
 |
| A Guatamalan marimba made with dried, hollowed gourds. |
A
marimba is a mallet percussion instrument. It’s a lot like the xylophone in the
sense that they’re both made of wood and they both have resonators (cylindrical
pipes like an organ), however on the marimba the resonators are exposed and not
hidden in a box. Also, the marimba is only played with very soft mallets and
there are usually two held in each hand, unlike the xylophone, and its range of
notes is much deeper. Many people, myself included, describe its sound as
“rolled” and “mellow”. This might be hard to picture, but it’s got the same
edge as the sound of metal drums, just with a wooden feel. If that doesn’t make
sense now, it will once you listen to a marimba. Which you should do. Right
now. On YouTube. Except not right now, wait until you’re done reading my post.
Although
the date is unknown, the marimba roots back to South Africa when small
multi-sized wooden planks were laid over a hole in the dirt and hit with
sticks. Later, dried, hollowed gourds were hung from the planks and used as
resonators. In the early 1500s, when the Africans were taken as slaves to South
America, the marimba followed. It was closer to the 17th century
when a man named Sebastian Hurtado, from Guatemala, replaced the gourd
resonators with wood pipes. He also expanded the marimba’s range by adding more
wooden keys. In 1910, the marimba became more prominent in the U.S. and the
final touches were made, most notably the layout of the keys to resemble those
of the piano. They even started manufacturing marimbas with metal resonators. I
only wish the marimba’s beauty was more common in Canada.
Now incase you're not convinced of the marimba's beauty and don't plan on looking it up on YouTube like I said you should... I'll make it easier for you. Check this out. The marimba even makes The Legend of Zelda theme sound cool!
Sources:
The marimba sure is a gorgeous instrument! We had finally bought one at my old school for our music room and everyone wanted to switch instruments. It does remind me of the xylophone only this one is a lot bigger and way more expensive. Unless xylophones aren't that different at all? I don't know. Whenever I think of a xylophone, I picture that colourful toy for small children. Anyway, I was almost in tears watching the Zelda theme song on the marimba! I'm a HUGE Zelda fan and it sounded so magical! Great post and I hope your audition went well.
ReplyDeleteThere are for sure still some expensive xylophones out there, but you’re right, there do seem to be many cheaper xylophone choices while poor marimba players are forced to make such an investment to play. It’s funny, I’m not a Zelda fan at all, I barely even know what it is, but I still found the video so awesome! Sometimes music needs no context!
DeleteI found this post really interesting! Because the marimba isn't very popular in
ReplyDeleteCanada, I have never heard of it, and I was certainly missing out! Though it is very similar to the xylophone, it also has a very unique sound and is incredibly beautiful! Thank you for sharing this instrument with me!
Isn’t it though? I just love its sound! I love the hollow tone and mellow feel. When I first heard it I also thought I’d been missing out. As you can imagine, I scoured iTunes for about a day and a half searching for marimba music!
Delete