A Little Prayer (Evelyn Glennie)

A Little Prayer by Evelyn Glennie, performed by Leah Dunbar at her senior percussion recital at Kenyon College.

[@tanner1548]

Oh! I forgot! Also, most important question! What mallets are you using here? (I'm always trying to build my mallet collection and grab good suggestions for that!) (Looks like that helix or double helix wave or whatever those are called.)

[@tanner1548]

Nice! I needed a chorale to add to my playlist of solos (to be started in a couple months--I JUST ordered a Mode 5 that I'm excited to start using!). This sounds GREAT! Plenty of octave double verticals, but all the rolls and intervals changes sound so smooth! Think it kinda rounds out your recital, too, just given the couple other videos I saw from your recital. (KZbin suggested your marimba-making video, so now I'm just perusing all your posts!) Think I really ought to listen to this with headphones (and will soon), but even without them it sounds like great transitions and dynamics. I wonder if maybe this would sound interesting with more varied roll speeds? I'm guessing you tried plenty of different variations with different roll speed changes for different parts (and you definitely seem to speed up the rolls at different points), but I'm definitely curious to try some slower rolls myself and see how it sounds. Out of curiosity (because I really don't learn this stuff in a university context and get to just play whatever I want however I want), are you constrained to only use double verticals? Does it start to sound too muddled with some laterals or the ripple or flop rolls that Mark Ford seems to use? (One of his videos from this summer describes the flops and ripples, and...well I converted to the religion of flop rolls for the most part now ha.) Hope it's OK to offer some critical suggestions while praising your performance. Not meant to be poking at your playing at all--I just like finding sounds and trying to imagine how they be transformed a bit!

[@leahdunbar4656]

Hi Tanner, I'm glad you enjoyed listening to my recital - I appreciate the interest and the feedback! This was my first chorale piece actually, so it was my first time truly experimenting with different roll features. I also used it to practice traditional grip on marimba (I use traditional on vibes but not marimba, and felt that this piece would be well served through traditional grip) The piece doesn't specify what types of rolls to do. I found double verticals easiest to control the melody and shaping over using ripples, but I did experiment with using flop rolls a bit- looking back, I would do more to exaggerate these sections and experiment with roll speed, as they didn't come through as much as I think they could, probably partially due to my growing skills with traditional grip. The mallets I used are the Malletch Chamber CH8 in the left hand and the Wave Wrap 3s in the right. For Odessa, I used Van Sice 114s (which are my go-to mallet for almost anything) Also, I got a Mode 5 after graduation and can attest to its quality as a good instrument. Definitely different than rosewood (I'm obsessed with MarimbaOne) but I'm very thankful to have a more affordable and durable 5 octave. Planning on recording some videos soon of it! Best wishes for yours!

[@tanner1548]

​@@leahdunbar4656 Wow I wasn't expecting such a thorough reply! (KZbin is kinda hit or miss with replies ha.) Makes total sense about the roll speeds, and I thiiiink that's what I was wondering (if I'm understanding "shaping" correctly) about the ripple rolls. Definitely going to be trying the chorales in Ford's Technique through Music after my Mode 5 arrives, but I'm also gonna be getting a copy of this piece after hearing your performance. AND I got to learn who Evelyn Glennie is! (Feeling a bit bad about not knowing about her before...) Was it the wide interval changes and lack of laterals/speed work that made you choose traditional grip for this piece? (That'd be my first guess, because I like trying to do Kevin Bobo-style laterals with my Stevens' grip.) Aha! I knew I recognized the wave wraps (just couldn't remember their name!). That...is a pricy pair of mallets! Think they're really worth it? (Maybe I'll add those to my mallet list, too....or my Christmas wish list :P ) Never heard of the Chamber mallets before, so thanks for that new addition, too! Glad to hear you're pleased with your Mode marimba! John really seems to know what he's doing with those. Looking forward to seeing your recordings with it!!

[@leahdunbar4656]

@@tanner1548 I chose traditional because it felt better in my hands - traditional feels a little more balanced in my hands and I feel like I have more relaxation for piano passages because I don't have to move my wrists as much in order to create a roll sound and it feels easier to adjust the nuance of them in the chorales. (that's what I mean by shaping, any type of texture/dynamic change, sometimes not explicitly outlined in the sheet music) The piece doesn't have many fast interval changes or single mallet independence which is also why I chose the grip. I got the wave wraps through a BOGO free sale, and then was gifted another pair. So I got lucky for sure. I do like them and use them frequently (esp paired with 114s in the top 3) but I think there's other mallets that do similar things, especially on the Mode. The nuance of mallets especially in the medium-hard range does not seem as contrasted on the Mode as it was on the Marimba One.

[@tanner1548]

​@@leahdunbar4656 Yeah that definitely makes sense about traditional grip. I'd guess that Stevens has said something about using his grip for chorales in MoM. (Planning to get a copy soon. Just...haven't gotten around to it yet.) At any rate, it sounds like you've done what works for you, and you've done it well! :) Have you played with the resonator knobs on the Mode much? From what I understand, you can tune each resonator to give more or less of a ring as you prefer. Adam Tan's video shows the emulator/foam strip dampening the resonance significantly to sound more like rosewood, but I haven't seen the results of playing with the resonators tuned much and have only read about it on their/John's webpage. I wonder if that wouldn't bring out more of a distinction between medium-hard mallets. On an unrelated note, if you're taking any suggestions for the hammered dulcimer recordings, I'd put some Iron and Wine in the mix! :) Or maybe Andrew Bird. It's a cool instrument! That "Holocene" cover is a great way to greet the morning.

[@leahdunbar4656]

@@tanner1548 I haven't played with the resonator knobs too much. They came pretty well adjusted and at first I was a little hesitant to mess around with it too much. They were resonant enough, and when I tried a bit to make them less resonant (and emulative of rosewood) I didn't have the same quality of sound. But I also had some issues with the first batch of rails that affected the sound quality, so that could've been part of it and I'm going to try to experiment a bit more. I love Iron and Wine! The dulcimer has been a fun project and I always enjoy some arrangement ideas for any instrument. Thanks!