#mallet percussion

so heres the main mallet instruments seen in marching bands, and i think at the same time, concert ones.

these are glockenspiels, also called bells. NOT XYLOPHONES. glockenspiels or bells

theyre small, metal instruments typically played with plastic or hard acrylic mallets and have a high-pitched sound that rings out very well. they do not have resonators

these are xylophones.

xylophones are slightly bigger instruments, made of real or synthetic wood. they have very thick keys and small resonators. they can be played with hard yarn mallets or acrylic ones, and have a higher pitched sound (although usually lower than a glockenspiel)

these are vibraphones.

theyre metal with thinner keys, and theyre yellow sometimes !!!!!!! usually silver though. they have a pedal that control soft pads under the keys, which is how they make both muffled / shorter sounds, as well as loud ringing ones. they have bigger resonators than xylos

these are marimbas. MY FAVORITE EVER !!!!!!!! i heart marimbas <333

marimbas are the biggest mallet instrument, even getting up to FIVE octaves. they are made of rosewood or synthetic wood and have massive resonators. they have a deep, rich sound to them and are very heavy. they dont have a pedal or anything and they have somewhat thick keys that get thinner towards the center.

I was on vibraphone last year and timpani this year in my school's marching band; yeah DCI percussionists are craaazzyyy :)

Harmonic study for vibraphone today, once again focusing on writing in three voices. Specifically, most chords in this study are formed from clusters of three consecutive diatonic notes, though usually voiced with one note in a different octave. As such, rather than two seconds and a third, a second, sixth, and seventh are heard in most sonorities.

I like these voicing a lot due to their ambiguity. Unlike my previous three-voice studies, where the chords I used can mostly be understood as incomplete seventh chords, I don't hear most of these chords as even having a clear root. Instead, I hear them more as expressions of diatonic spaces, since unlike a root, the number of sharps/flats in each chord is relatively unambiguous.

So, instead of writing chord progressions in one single diatonic space, I created progressions by changing the diatonic space on most chord changes (such as the F flat to F natural from m4-5). I found this gave the study a good sense of harmonic motion, especially due to how many of these shifts only change one accidental - they often remind me of changes of mode over a consistent root, thanks to the common tones that often appear.

marimba is so gorgeous and pretty

vibraphone is gorgeous and sounds so dreamy

glockenspiel

xylophone sounds so cute and clacky in a nice way

chimes are like ominous and cool