Ep. 17 Double Lateral Strokes with Stevens Grip

[@Marimbalogy]

Stevens mallets. I love them :) No contact sound at all. Great for recording!

[@Marimbalogy]

The youngest I've taught it to is 7th grade. At that age, demonstrating goes a long way as anything technical gets tuned out after 2 seconds. From a physical standpoint they could probably start in elementary school, but I don't teach it to young kids unless I KNOW they are going to practice hard or if I see them a lot for rehearsals/lessons where I can supervise the practice. Otherwise they build bad habits! To be honest I teach burton grip if I know they aren't going to practice at home.

[@Marimbalogy]

While you can get them down to a true 2nd with a lot of torque and practice, when you see guys playing these things really fast and loud they are usually holding their mallets at a 3rd or even 4rd and using a combination of good bar positioning (mallet 1 once inch over center, mallet 2 one inch under center) and wrist movement to get a 2nd even though their mallets are wider!

[@LivinLikeAzera]

Learned this to play firefish, helped me so much. Thank you!

[@Marimbalogy]

Snx Azera That solo is pretty boss sounding.

[@LivinLikeAzera]

Marimbalogy​ Yea it is!

[@Marimbalogy]

Thanks! Glad you like them!

[@WalleTheFridge]

Great video. These have been helping a lot with my playing :)

[@Marimbalogy]

Score! That's so great mean! Just made my smile :) Yea the 3-4 laterals are tough at first, but if you can do the 3 mallet with arm your wrist can snap out the 4 mallet pretty well. Good luck!!!!

[@Marimbalogy]

Oh geez. That would take a really long time. I honestly don't even know what I'm doing :) For the most part I'm trying to keep one hand on the naturals and one on the accidentals :)

[@marcelo2hum]

Muito bem explicado. Grato

[@Marimbalogy]

Hopefully in the next two weeks!!!

[@PhilipYun]

finally! thank you for this video! im sharing all your videos with the kids on my winter line, cus their technique is not as good as it should. :)

[@tanner1548]

Kevin Bobo's Permutations book: www.mostlymarimba.com/books-a-recordings/music-books.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.pbv.v3.tpl&product_id=880&category_id=908

[@grt002]

Just wanted to say your videos are great and you make good quality pedagogical comments. Any odds of a triple lateral or one-handed roll video happening in the future? :)

[@Marimbalogy]

You know, I've had it for a long time but I haven't learned it yet. I did just learn Rest by Bobo and it's got triple laterals all over :)

[@bsdcameront2016]

Had to play firefish for Blake tyson himself! Scared the living crap out of me!

[@Marimbalogy]

That piece is so boss. He seems like a cool dude though. Did he have good things to say?

[@bsdcameront2016]

Marimbalogy Yeah he did, he's also my teacher so it's probably out of kindness😂

[@Marimbalogy]

Thanks!

[@Marimbalogy]

Awesome!

[@Marimbalogy]

Sure thing!

[@Marimbalogy]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean. Could you send me a picture? Mallet height is usually increased by raising the marimba higher!

[@grt002]

Also, could you offer advice for teaching Stevens grip and technique to students who are learning it for the first time? I feel it is difficult to teach and that some of the concepts go over younger students' heads. Also, do you personally feel there is an ideal age to begin learning any sort of 4-mallet technique? Sorry for the loaded questions, just curious for your thoughts.

[@chandlerspurlock]

What can I do to improve the height of the mallets? at times I tend to let my wrists droop. I would appreciate it.

[@Official7Records]

Hey, I noticed at many points you had your mallets at a m2 interval... How the heck do you do interval strokes at that small of an interval?? It's really hard for me. :(

[@MrJME988]

What mallets are you using? i love the texture

[@MrPatrrricio]

Which song is at 02:15?

[@Marimbalogy]

Dr. Gradus by Debussy

[@lonewolf0299]

what solo does bobo do the lateral roll on one note?

[@Marimbalogy]

Libertango Eric Sammut. You can see it in this video "Libertango: Variations on Marimba" by Eric Sammut at a minute twenty seconds.

[@aarongrooves]

andy reasonover Kevin Bobo?

[@Marimbalogy]

aarongrooves He demonstrated this technique at pasic using Sammut's music. Some of Bobo's new solos have this technique as well but I don't remember which ones off hand. I saw him do it live and I own the CD, but it's hard to pick out just by listening. (Boboland is the album name)

[@aarongrooves]

Believe it or not, I've known Bobo for about 15 years. He was my marimba teacher. This was wayyyy back in the day, when he had just finished his master's degree and wasn't even a professor yet. He would drive up from Wichita (where he lived at the time) once a month for me and a few others who were really into marimba. He'd play something he was working on (often a composition in progress), we'd perform for each other, and then we'd split into hour lessons each. Sometimes we'd kick it afterwards. Those days were magical. Some of the music on Boboland was written around this time. In fact, I still have copies of some of his original manuscript somewhere. "Pendulum," "Torri's Waltz," and "French Flies." Another of my friends was the one who computerized his entire method book on permutations. Wow, memories. . .

[@Marimbalogy]

aarongrooves Sounds like a great time. What I appreciate about Bobo is that whenever I see him at PASIC or wherever he always takes time to talk to me like I'm a human being. There are a few other marimba professionals who aren't so nice to the "little guys" who aren't big names.

[@grt002]

Oh no, what happened to your website?

[@orderedChaotically]

Whats the song name?

[@Marimbalogy]

Server had an error, should be all fixed :)

[@raneyboy9937]

Should i stay controlled or relaxed when doing double lateral strokes with 16th notes?

[@Marimbalogy]

The goal is to be relaxed while you do it. If your hands are making the circular motion, that should help. If it's really tense, consider slowing down a bit!

[@raneyboy9937]

Marimbalogy thank you very much

[@raneyboy9937]

How do you not be too loose, because I am trying to play 16th notes but are very sloppy

[@Marimbalogy]

I'm not sure! Can you upload a video so I can see your hands?

[@raneyboy9937]

Marimbalogy I actually figured it out but thank you for the help

[@MythicalCretures]

could you write down what sticking's you used for double lateral scale