Primary Handbook for Mallets

General Info

First Edition

Year of Published: 2000
Publisher: Meredith Music
Difficulty: Elementary
Pages: 48
ISBN: 978-1-5746-3006-0
Cost: $13.00

Second Edition

Year of Published: 2002
Publisher: Meredith Music, Hal Leonard
Difficulty: Elementary
Pages: 48
ISBN: 978-0-6340-3924-9
Cost: $22.00

Instrumentation

Mallet Percussion

Content

Technical Exercise
Reading Studies
4-Mallet Studies
Memorization Songs
Duet 1 - 6

Keys Involved

Major: C, F, G, Bb, D, Eb, A, Ab , E, Db, B
Minor: A, D, E, G, B

Reviews

Organization: There is no table of contents, but the bulk of the book is preceded by a foreword, a small dedication, an introduction including a description of the contents of the book, performance fundamentals, a short glossary for tempo and expressions, and clefs, and finally hand position instructions for two mallet and four mallet playing, exclusively with Musser grip. The rest of the book is ordered by keys, with each key having an exercise in Rudiments, Reading, 4 Mallet Studies, Rote Tunes, and Creativity Assignments which introduce compositional elements to the student. The keys are ordered by number of flats and sharps, respectively, for example going from C major to F major then G major and so forth. The major keys go up to B major and Gb major before switching to minor keys, starting at A minor to D minor then E minor and so forth until reaching C minor. Six duets are at the end of the book to introduce ensemble performance as well as a page for Teacher’s Notes for the very last page.

Content: The performance fundamentals section of the introduction mentions Sticking, Rolls, Posture and Position, and Playing Area, stating that doubling should be avoided when possible, how rolls are notated and should generally sound, the reader should be relaxed and have parallel arms to the ground while playing, and bars on the marimba should be struck on the ends of the accidentals and the center of the naturals. The clef section only lists pitches on treble clef, and the hand position section contains illustrations of two mallet and four mallet grips. The main sections have an illustration of marimba keys with marked bars depending on which key is being presented.

Uses: The introduction of the book states that the book is intended for beginning mallet players, and that is accurately reflected in the writing. The way the author organized each key to be developed allows the student to work on different important aspects of their playing, including composition which was surprising to find. This book could be used with beginners at the pre-high school level, although Musser grip may be too advanced for much younger players who can not support each mallet independently.

Rating: For a beginner learning mallets, I would say this book is a good place to start as these exercises are simple enough for a higher level elementary student to understand although the more advanced keys and duets will require an instructor. This book may not be very useful for a high school student since not all keys are included and not very many etudes are present but could be useful for key studies. 4/5. User:Hondogracias

Books for Percussion by this Composer

Additional Resources

References