Vibraphone
 A typical vibraphone |
|
| Percussion instrument | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Vibraharp, Vibes |
| Hornbostel-Sachs classification | 111.222 (Directly struck idiophone) |
| Inventor(s) | Henry Schluter |
| Developed | 1927 |
| Playing range | |
 |
|
| Related instruments | |
| Marimba, Xylophone Glockenspiel | |
| Musicians | |
| Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Gary Burton, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Locke, Steve Nelson | |
| Builders | |
| Musser, Yamaha, Adams Musical Instruments, Saito | |
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the mallet subfamily of the percussion family.
It is similar in appearance to the xylophone, marimba, and glockenspiel although the vibraphone uses aluminum bars instead of the wooden bars of the first two instruments. Each bar is paired with a resonator tube having a motor-driven butterfly valve at its upper end, mounted on a common shaft, which produces a tremolo or vibrato effect while spinning. The vibraphone also has a sustain pedal similar to that used on a piano: When the pedal is up, the bars are all damped and the sound of each bar is quite short; with the pedal down, they will sound for several seconds.
The most common uses of the vibraphone are within jazz music, where it often plays a featured role, and in the wind ensemble, as a standard component of the percussion section.
Contents |
History
The first musical instrument called "vibraphone" was marketed by the Leedy Manufacturing Company in the United States in 1921. However, this instrument differed in significant details from the instrument now called the vibraphone. The Leedy vibraphone achieved a degree of popularity after it was used in the novelty recordings of "Aloha 'Oe" and "Gypsy Love Song" by vaudeville performer Louis Frank Chiha ("Signor Frisco").[1]
This popularity led J. C. Deagan, Inc. in 1927 to ask its Chief Tuner, Henry Schluter, to develop a similar instrument. However, Schluter didn't just copy the Leedy design, he introduced several significant improvements: making the bars from aluminum instead of steel for a more "mellow" basic tone; adjustments to the dimensions and tuning of the bars to eliminate the dissonant harmonics in the Leedy design (further mellowing the tone); and the introduction of a damper bar controlled by a foot pedal, enabling it to be played with more expression.[1] Schluter's design was more popular than the Leedy design, and has become the template for all instruments called vibraphone today.
However, when Deagan began marketing Schluter's instrument in 1928, they called it the vibraharp. As its popularity grew, other manufacturers began producing instruments based on Schluter's design, marketed under a variety of names, including Leedy, who marketed their new instrument as the vibraphone and abandoned their old design.
The name confusion continues, even to the present, but over time vibraphone became significantly more popular than vibraharp. By 1974, the Directory of the D.C. Federation of Musicians listed 39 vibraphone players and 3 vibraharp players.[1] As of 2008, the term vibraharp has disappeared except for anachronistic uses. Often, vibraphone is shortened to "vibes", and the two terms are used interchangeably.
The initial purpose of the vibraphone was to add to the large arsenal of percussion sounds used by vaudeville orchestras for novelty effects. This use was quickly overwhelmed in the 1930's by its development as a jazz instrument. As of 2008, it remains primarily, although not exclusively, a jazz instrument.
The popularity of the vibraphone as a jazz instrument can primarily be credited to one man, Lionel Hampton. The story, perhaps apocryphal, is that "Hamp", a drummer at the time, was playing at the NBC Radio studios, where he discovered a vibraphone that was kept on hand to play the musical motif identifying the NBC network, the "NBC Chimes". After the gig, he spent a considerable amount of time exploring the instrument, and fell in love with it.
Later (October 16, 1930), Hampton was recording with Louis Armstrong & His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra, and the studio they were working in happened to have a vibraphone. Hampton showed Armstrong what he could do, and they decided to add vibes to one of the tunes they were scheduled to play, "Memories of You", creating the first known jazz recording using the vibraphone.
After this, Hampton decided to concentrate on the vibraphone, eventually joining the Benny Goodman Quintet, and later leading his own big bands and achieving great popularity.
Manufacturers
The first manufacturer of vibraphones in the modern configuration was J.C. Deagan, Inc., of Chicago, Illinois, United States, although they called the instruments vibraharps. As the market for vibraphones was proven, first as a vaudeville novelty instrument and then as a jazz instrument, several other manufacturers stepped in to supply the demand. These included the Leedy Manufacturing Company, of Indianapolis, Indiana, who retained the vibraphone name of their earlier product but abandoned its design in favor of the Henry Schluter innovations, and the Jenco Company, of Decatur, Illinois, who initially marketed their instruments as "vibrabells".
Outside of the United States, the Premier Drum Company, of London, UK, after experimenting with a variety of aluminum bar instruments more closely related to the glockenspiel that were called variations of “harpaphone”,[1] moved to the production of the Schluter vibraphone design. Bergerault, of Ligueil, France also began manufacturing vibraphones in the 1930’s.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, each manufacturer attracted its own following in various specialties, but the Deagan vibraphones were the models preferred by many of the emerging class of specialist jazz players. Deagan struck endorsement deals with many of the leading players, including Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson.
In 1948, the Musser Company was founded by Claire Omar Musser.[2] Musser was an accomplished marimba and xylophone player famous for touring the United States and Europe leading "marimba symphony orchestras". He applied his experience and observations with the current designs of mallet instruments to his eponymous company and the result was a high-quality line of mallet instruments. His vibraphones emerged as quite comparable in quality to Deagan vibraphones and Musser was able to garner a share of the top-end market.
The 1960s and 1970s saw a shakeup in the vibraphone market. Leedy and Jenco ceased operations. The Deagan operation was purchased by the Yamaha Corporation. Although Yamaha used the Deagan knowledge to improve their own designs, for vibraphones they discontinued the use of the Deagan name and Deagan model legacy; as of 2008, no visible trace to Deagan remains, although Yamaha continues to use the Deagan name for a line of orchestra bells and chimes. The Musser Company was purchased first by Ludwig Drums, and then, through Ludwig, was purchased by Conn-Selmer, Inc. Unlike the fate of Deagan, the Musser brand and model line were retained by the purchasing companies, and Musser vibraphones remain a major force in the vibraphone market.
This period also saw the emergence of new vibraphone manufacturers. Notable companies include Adams Musical Instruments of Ittervoort, The Netherlands and Ross Mallet Instruments, now owned by Jupiter Band Instruments of Austin, Texas, United States.
As of 2008, the vibraphone marketplace is remarkably active, considering the specialty nature of the instrument. The major players include Musser, Yamaha, Adams and Ross. Bergerault, Premier, Studio 49 from Gräfelfing, Germany and the Saito Gakki Company of Japan continue in operation. In addition to the "mass" producers of vibraphones, custom manufacturers, notably vanderPlas Percussion of The Netherlands, are also active.
Range
The standard modern instrument has a range of three octaves, from the F below middle C (F3 to F6 in scientific pitch notation). Larger three-and-a-half or four octave models from the C below middle C are also becoming more common (C3 to F6 or C7). Unlike its cousin the xylophone, it is a non-transposing instrument, generally written at concert pitch. However, sometimes some composers (for example, Olivier Messiaen) write parts to sound an octave higher.
In the 1930s several manufacturers made soprano-vibraphones with a range C4-C7, notably the Ludwig & Ludwig model B110 and the Deagan model 144. Deagan also made a portable model that had a 2 1/2 octave range and resonators made out of cardboard (model 30).[3]
Construction
The major components of a vibraphone are the bars, resonators, damper pad, motor and a frame to hold them all together. Vibraphones are usually played with mallets.
Bars
Vibraphone bars are made from aluminum, which is the most obvious way to distinguish a vibraphone from the other members of the mallet percussion family. Aluminum for vibraphone bars is normally obtained from standard commercial suppliers. For example, Musser has used the #2024-T4 product from Alcoa.[4] Different alloys of aluminum have slightly different tonal characteristics. Manufacturers must choose their preferred alloy carefully, balancing the tonal characteristics with the ability to obtain supply over the long term.
Aluminum stock is purchased in long bars of the desired width and thickness, and then cut into the appropriate lengths. Next, holes are drilled through the width of bars at the two so-called "nodal" points. The nodal points are the points near the ends of the bar where the wave-like fundamental vibration of a sounding bar causes little or no movement of the bar itself. For a uniform bar, the nodal points are located 22.4% from each end of the bar.[4]
The next step in the basic shaping of the bar is to cut a deep arch in the base running between the nodal points. This deep arch is key to the "mellow" sound of the vibraphone (and marimba, which uses the same deep arch) compared to the xylophone, which uses a shallower arch, and the glockenspiel, which has no arch at all. Vibrating rectangular bars have three primary modes of vibration.[4] The deep arch causes these modes to align and create a consonant arrangement of intervals: a fundamental pitch, a pitch two octaves above that, and a third pitch an octave and a major third above the second. For the F3 bar that usually forms the lowest note on a vibraphone, there would be F3 as the fundamental, F5 as the first partial and A6 as the second partial.[4] As a side effect, the arch causes the nodal points of the fundamental vibration to shift closer towards the ends of the bar; this must be anticipated when drilling the holes.
Once the bar has obtained its basic shape, it must be fine tuned. Normally, the dimensions and tolerances of the initial bar creation process are set to create a slightly sharp bar. If the bar is flat, its overall pitch structure can be raised by removing material from the ends of the bar. Once this slightly sharp bar is created, the individual tones can be tuned flatter by removing material from specific locations of the bar.[4]
The specific points from which to remove material are the "anti-nodal" points of each vibration mode; i.e. the points where the bar moves the most. To tune the fundamental mode, the tuning point is in the center of the bar. Scraping material from there will lower the fundamental pitch without lowering the other partials, since these partials have nodal points there. The two outside anti-nodal points for the first partial, which has a 4:1 relation to the fundamental, are just inside the main nodal points and are used to tune that partial.[4] For most vibraphones, only the fundamental and first partial are tuned. The second partial can be tuned using appropriate anti-nodal points from its vibration mode.
Higher quality vibraphones tend to have "graduated" bars. That is, the lower bars are wider than the higher bars, graduating through a number of steps of decreasing width. This helps to balance the volume of the instrument across the entire range. Vibraphone bars can come in a variety of colors, usually silver or gold, but other colors are available, created by anodizing the bars after fine tuning. This has no effect on the tone of the bars. Bars are also available in matte or glossy finish. Some argue that there are tonal differences due to the finish.[5]
Resonators
Resonators are thin-walled tubes, typically made of aluminum, but any suitably strong material will do. They are open at one end and closed at the other. Each bar is paired with a resonator whose diameter is slightly wider than the width of the bar, and whose length to the closure is one-quarter of the wavelength of the fundamental frequency of the bar. The resonator for A3 (the lowest A on a vibraphone) is approximately 15 inches long.[4] When the bar and resonator are properly in tune with each other, the vibrating air beneath the bar travels down the resonator and is reflected off the closure at the bottom, then returns back to the top and is reflected back by the bar, over and over, creating a much stronger standing wave and amplifying the fundamental frequency. The resonators, beside raising the upper end of the vibraphone's dynamic range, also affect the overall tone of the vibraphone, since they amplify the fundamental, but not the upper partials.[4]
Note the difference in the front resonator sets of the two vibraphones. This difference is purely cosmetic. On Locke's vibraphone (on the right) the resonators are only as long as they need to be; the cap in each tube is near the bottom. On Hutcherson's vibraphone the resonators on the high end are much longer than they need to be to produce an arched front as seen in many instruments (and the cap is near the top of those tubes). Both instruments include non-functional resonator tubes with no corresponding bar above to avoid a gap-toothed look.
There is a trade-off between the amplifying effect of the resonators and the length of sustain of a ringing bar. Basically, all of the energy in a ringing bar comes from the initial mallet strike, and that energy can go to making the bar ring either louder initially, or not as loud but longer. This is not an issue with marimbas and xylophones, where the natural sustain time of the wooden bars is short, but vibraphone bars can ring for many seconds after being struck, and this effect is highly desirable in many circumstances. Therefore the resonators in a vibraphone are usually tuned to be slightly off-pitch to create a balance between loudness and sustain.[6]
Another difference in vibraphone resonators is the presence of a rotating disk at the top of each resonator. The disks for a group of resonators are ganged together with a shaft that can be driven from an electric motor to cause the disks to rotate. When the disks are open (standing vertically) the resonators have full function. When the disks are closed (lying horizontally) the vibrating column of air is blocked, reducing the amplification effect. As the disks rotate, this varies the amplitude of the instrument, creating a "vibrato" effect.
Some argue that calling this effect vibrato is incorrect, saying that vibrato is a variation in pitch, not amplitude. The correct term should be tremolo, a variation in amplitude, and therefore the vibraphone is incorrectly named; it should be called a tremolophone. Others argue [1] that the common usage of vibrato and tremolo is nowhere near that precise, even among experienced musicians who should presumably know better. Arguably, as the instrument is not called a vibratophone, the metaphor of vibration is not being overly stretched anyway. Additionally, in this context, there is the extra consideration that the rotating plates interfere with wave-fronts in the resonator tubes to cause doppler-effect pitch variations. This can be observed using an oscilloscope.
Damper pad
The damper pad is a strip of piano felt, usually about one inch wide and deep, that runs down the middle of the vibraphone. It is attached to hinges on the ends, and a spring assembly and pedal in the middle. When the pedal is up, the spring forces the damper pad up into contact with the bars, muffling any ringing bars. When the pedal is depressed, the damper bar is pulled down, allowing the bars to ring freely.
The damper pad is the source of many maintenance headaches for vibraphone players. The pad must be perfectly level, both left-to-right and front-to-back, in order to contact all of the bars simultaneously. When it is not level, some bars will stop ringing before others, making it difficult to cleanly articulate. After some years of use, the bars can make indentations in the pad where they normally rest, compressing the felt and sometimes causing buzzing as the bars contact the pad. Also, when the bars are struck while the damper pad is up, the pad can transfer the force of the impact into the frame, rattling anything that is loose.
In the early 1990s, vibraphonist John Mark Piper designed a new vibraphone for Musser that, among other innovations, included a water-filled damper pad. Later that decade, custom vibraphone maker Nico van der Plas improved on the idea by using silicone gel as the filling. These pads eliminate impact transference and provide more even dampening. Many vibraphones have been retrofitted with gel pads, although the vast majority of vibraphones still use felt dampers.
Motor
Vibraphones usually have an electric motor and pulley assembly mounted on one side or the other to drive the disks in the resonators. The early vibraphones used motors that were intended to power record player turntables,[1] and had limited or no speed adjustment capabilities. Whatever speed adjustments were possible were made by moving the drive belt among a small number of pulleys (usually three) of varying diameters.
Later, variable speed AC motors became available at reasonable prices. These motors allow the adjustment of the rotating speed via a potentiometer mounted on a control panel near the motor. They typically support rotation rates from about 1 Hz to about a dozen Hz. These motors remained the preferred solution until the 1990s, and even as of today are still the most widely used.
During the 1990s, some manufacturers began using computer-controlled servo stepping motors. These motors allow rotation rates so slow that they approach 0 Hz. The computer control also allows operations that are not possible with an analog motor, such as the ability to synchronize the rotation of the two resonator sets and stop the rotation at a desired state (all open, all closed, all half open, etc.).
Frame
The vibraphone frame offers a number of challenges to designers. It must be sturdy enough to endure the torsional forces created by the damper/spring/pedal assembly and the stresses of repeated transport and playing, while still being light enough for easy transport. Considering the weight of the bars alone, that doesn’t leave much left for the frame. Also, the bars must be securely attached to the frame, but not rigidly. Each bar must have some independent flex in order to ring.
Vibraphone frames consist of two end blocks, made of metal, wood or a combination, attached by various support members. Usually the end blocks are approximately the same size as the two bars that are at the same end; therefore one block is significantly larger than the other.
The motor is attached to the frame at one end. The hinges for the damper bar are attached at each end, and the spring assembly and the pedal are usually attached in the middle. Two banks of resonator tubes are laid into grooves in the frame so that they straddle the damper bar. The resonators are not firmly fastened to the frame. The ends of the shafts that gang the disks are attached to the drive of the motor via a drive belt similar to an O-ring.
A bed for the bars is made by laying four wooden rails onto pins on the end blocks. Like the resonators, these rails are not firmly attached to the frame. Each rail has a series of pins with rubber spacers that will support the bars. The bars are arranged into two groups, and a soft cord is passed through the nodal holes in the bars of each group. The bars are laid between the support pins, with the cord hooking the pins. The pins on the outside rails have U-shaped hooks and the cord just rests in the bend. The inside pins have a hook that grasps the cord and holds the bars in place against the force of the damper pad. The two ends of the cord are attached with a spring at one end to provide tension and flex.
The two rows of bars follow the piano convention of white and black keys, with the row nearer to the player corresponding to the white keys. As with the piano, the lower notes are on the player’s left. Unlike the marimba and the xylophone, the two rows of bars are in the same horizontal plane so that the damper bar will come in contact with both rows at the same time.
Frames come in a variety of styles, from functional to ornate, but, except for negatively via squeaks and rattles, they don't really contribute to the tonal qualities of the vibraphone. Some frames allow the distance between the bars and the resonators to be adjusted, to compensate for variations in air temperature, pressure and moisture that change the speed of sound and therefore the tuning of the bar/resonator system, but this is more common in marimbas than vibraphones. Other frames allow the adjustment of the height of the bar bed. It’s common to see players who don’t have this capability hunched over their instruments while they play as the standard height of non-adjustable frames is often too low for men of average height.
Mallets
Vibraphone mallets usually consist of a rubber ball core wrapped in yarn or cord and attached to a narrow dowel, most commonly made of rattan or birch (other materials, such as nylon, are sometimes used). Mallets suitable for the vibraphone are also generally suitable for the marimba.
The specific mallets used can have a great effect on the tonal characteristics of the sound produced, ranging from a clang of harsh clashes to a mellow ring with no obvious initial attack. Consequently, a vast array of mallets is available, offering variations in hardness, head size, weight, shaft length and flexibility.
Classical players must carry a wide range of mallet types to accommodate the changing demands of composers who are looking for particular sounds. Jazz players, on the other hand, since "we don’t know what we’re going to want to play until the second or two that we're there",[7] tend to stick to a single general-purpose mallet type that works well in all dynamic ranges. Often this choice becomes one of the defining items of the player's personal style. Many jazz players alter commercially available mallets to get just the tone they want.
Technique
The world of vibraphone players can be roughly divided into those who play with two mallets, and those who play with four. In reality the division is not quite so neat. Many players switch between two, three and four mallets depending on the demands of their current musical situations.
Furthermore, concentrating on the number of mallets a player holds means missing the far more significant differences between the two-mallet and four-mallet playing styles. As of 2008, these differences are not quite as extensive as they were when Gary Burton first introduced the world to the four-mallet style in the 1960s, but they still exist to a large degree.
Two-mallet style
The two-mallet approach to vibes is traditionally linear, playing like a horn. Two-mallet players usually concentrate on playing a single melodic line and rely on other musicians to provide accompaniment. Double stops (two notes played simultaneously) are sometimes used, but mostly as a reinforcement of the main melodic line, similar to the usual use of double stops in solo violin music. In jazz groups, two-mallet vibraphonists are usually considered part of the "front line" with the horn players, contributing solos of their own but contributing very little in the way of accompaniment to other soloists.
Two-mallet players use several different grips, with the most common being a palms-down grip that is basically the same as the matched grip used by drummers. The mallets are held between the thumb and index finger of each hand, with the remaining three fingers of each hand pressing the shafts into the down-facing palms. Strokes use a combination of wrist movement and fingertip control of the shaft.
Another popular grip is similar to the timpani grip. The mallets are again held between the thumb and index fingers and controlled with the remaining three fingers, but the palms are held vertically, facing inward towards each other. Most of the stroke action comes from the finger-tip control of the shafts.
Passages are usually played hand-to-hand with double-sticking (playing two notes in a row with the same hand) used when convenient in minimizing crossing the hands.
The player must pay close attention to the use of the damper pedal in order to cleanly articulate and avoid multiple notes ringing unintentionally at the same time. Since the notes ring for some significant fraction of a second when struck with the damper pad up, and ringing bars do not stop ringing immediately when contacted by the pad, a technique called "after pedaling"[8] is necessary. In this technique, the damper pedal is depressed marginally after the note is struck, shortly enough after so that the recently struck note continues to ring, but long enough after so that the previous note has stopped ringing.
Another damper technique is "half pedaling", where the pedal is depressed just enough to remove the spring pressure from the bars, but not enough so the pad has lost contact with the bars. This allows the bars to ring slightly longer than with the pad fully up and can be used to make a medium-fast passage sound more legato without pedaling every note.
Four-mallet style
The four-mallet vibraphone style is multi-linear, like a piano. "Thinking like a pianist, arranger, and orchestrator, the vibist approaches the instrument like a piano and focuses on a multi-linear way of playing."[9] In jazz groups, four-mallet vibraphonists are often considered part of the rhythm section, typically substituting for piano or guitar, and providing accompaniment for other soloists in addition to soloing themselves. Furthermore, the four-mallet style has led to a significant body of unaccompanied solo vibes playing. One notable example is Gary Burton’s performance of "Chega de Saudade (No More Blues)" from his Grammy-winning 1971 album "Alone at Last". [10]
Although some early vibes players made use of four mallets, notably Red Norvo and sometimes Lionel Hampton, the fully pianistic four-mallet approach is almost entirely the creation of Gary Burton. Many of the key techniques of the four-mallet style, such as multi-linear playing and the advanced dampening techniques describe below, are easily applied to playing with two mallets and some modern two-mallet players have adapted these devices to their playing, somewhat blurring the distinctions between modern two- and four-mallet players.
The most popular four-mallet grip for vibraphone is the Burton grip, named for Gary Burton. One mallet is held between the thumb and index finger and the other is held between the index and middle fingers. The shafts cross in the middle of the palm and extend past the heel of the hand. For wide intervals, the thumb often moves in between the two mallets and the inside mallet is held in the crook of the fingers.
Also popular is the Stevens grip, named for marimbist Leigh Howard Stevens. Many other grips are in use, some variations on the Burton or Stevens, others idiosyncratic creations of individual vibes players. One common variation of the Burton grip places the outside mallet between the middle and ring fingers, instead of between the index and middle.[11]
Four-mallet vibists usually play scalar linear passages much the same as two-mallet players, using one mallet from each hand (outside right and inside left for Burton grip), except four-mallet players tend to make more use of double strokes, not only to avoid crossing hands but also to minimize motion between the two bar rows. For example, an ascending E flat major scale could be played L-R-R-L-L-R-R-L, keeping the left hand on the "black" bars and the right hand on the "white". For linear passages with leaps, all four mallets are often used sequentially.[9]
Pedaling techniques are at least as important for the four-mallet vibist as for two-mallet players, but the all-or-nothing dampening system of the pedal/pad presents many obstacles to multi-linear playing since each line normally has its own dampening requirements independent of the other lines. To overcome this, four-mallet players use a set of dampening techniques referred to as "mallet dampening", in addition to the pedaling techniques used by two-mallet players. The mallet dampening techniques "are to the vibist as garlic and fresh basil are to the Northern Italian chef"[12] and contribute significantly to expressive four-mallet playing.
Mallet dampening includes "dead strokes" where a player strikes a bar, and then instead of drawing the mallet back, directly presses the head of the mallet onto the bar, causing the ringing to immediately stop. This produces a fairly distinctive "choked" sound and dead strokes are often used just for that particular sound in addition to the dampening aspects.
In hand-to-hand dampening, the vibist plays a note with one mallet, while simultaneously pressing another mallet onto a previously ringing bar. Usually the dampening mallet and the striking mallet are held in different hands, but advanced players can, in some circumstances, use two mallets from the same hand.[13] This is the most powerful of the mallet dampening techniques as it can be used to dampen any note on the instrument while simultaneously striking any other note.[12]
Slide dampening can be used to dampen a note that is physically adjacent to the new note being struck. The player strikes the new note and then controls the rebound of the mallet so that it slides over and onto the note to be dampened.[12] Sometimes slide dampening can make the new note sound "bent" or as if there is a glissando from the dampened note to the ringing one, as the two notes normally ring together for some short period of time.
Hand dampening (also known as finger dampening[12]) can be used to dampen a white note while striking a nearby black note. As the player strikes a black note with a mallet, they simultaneously press the heel of their hand or the side of their pinky finger onto the ringing white bar, using the same hand to strike the black note and dampen the white note. Using both hands, it's possible to dampen and strike two notes at once.
Specialty techniques
Pitch bending: This technique allows the pitch of a ringing bar to be smoothly lowered, or "bent", downward, by a half-step or so. To do this, the player replaces one of the normal mallets with a hard-headed mallet such as a hard rubber or plastic xylophone mallet. The player presses the special mallet onto a ringing bar at the nodal point, and then slides the mallet out towards the middle or edge of the bar. This causes the mallet to start vibrating with the bar, adding its weight to the system and slowing the vibration. The player must be very careful in placing the hard mallet onto the bar in order to avoid a rattling as the mallet and bar come into contact.
Bowing: In addition to striking the bars with mallets, the bars can be made to sound by drawing the bow of a string instrument along the edges. Since bars are fairly massive compared to strings, better results are obtained by using bows from the larger string instruments, at least a cello bow and often a double bass bow. Often a player will use two bows, one for the white bars and the other for the black. With bowing, the player is able to excite the bars directly to the pure ringing tone and eliminate many of the transient dissonant sounds that are present immediately after a mallet strikes.
Five or six mallets: In order to achieve greater density of sound and richer chord voicings, some vibraphonists have experimented with three mallets per hand, either in both hands for a total of six mallets or in just the left hand for a total of five. Results can be interesting, especially five-mallet playing where the left hand "comps" in three note voicings while the right hand plays melodic lines, similar to the popular piano technique.[14] However, the grips tend to lead to limited musical possibilities, with little ability to adjust the interval between the outside and middle mallets and difficulties in playing hand-to-hand lines, and therefore use of five or six mallets is rare.
Harmonics: It is also possible to play harmonics on the vibraphone. This is achieved by placing one mallet in the centre of the bar in an almost vertical position, while the other mallet strikes the bar over one of the nodes. When the second mallet strikes the bar the first mallet is removed. The strongest harmonic is the first partial which on the vibraphone is 2 octaves above the fundamental.
Rolling with one hand: Another extended technique is the rolling of a note with one hand. This is for vibes, xylophone and marimba. With two mallets in one hand, place the top mallet above the bar at the edge and the bottom mallet below. Then move your wrist up and down while keeping the bar between the two mallets. This lets you roll at very fast velocities while playing lines with the other hand.
Other techniques: The vibraphone solo "Mourning Dove Sonnet," composed by Christopher Deane, utilizes a four mallet grip with two cello (or bass) bows held where the outer mallets would be, a yarn mallet for the main melodic playing and a plastic mallet for pitch bending in the inner positions.
Solo vibes videos
The large size of the vibraphone and the fast-moving mallets can create a great deal of visual interest during a vibraphone performance. Probably the best way to fully appreciate the capabilities of the vibraphone is to watch and listen to solo (unaccompanied) vibes performances. A number of high-quality solo vibes performances have been made available on the web. Here are some examples:
- Gary Burton (at http://www.vicfirth.com/artists/burton.html): On Gary's Vic Firth Artist page, there is a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfHoqV1ng5M) where Gary talks about his signature mallets and plays a blues. Watch closely and you can see Gary using all of the mallet dampening techniques mentioned above.
- Jerry Tachoir (http://www.tachoir.com) Video (http://www.masterstudyseries.com) Vibist Jerry Tachoir was the first to release an educational vibraphone. Vol I - The Vibraphone - Jerry Tachoir Vol II - The Vibraphone - Jerry Tachoir These are available at www.masterstudyseries.com
- Ed Saindon (at http://www.vicfirth.com/artists/saindon.html): On Ed's Vic Firth Artist page, there are several videos recorded at the 2006 version of the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC). Performances include "Black Orpheus", "Body and Soul" and "Do You Know What it Means (to Miss New Orleans)".
- Tony Miceli (at http://larrysimprovpage.com/?q=node/48/play and http://larrysimprovpage.com/?q=node/50/play): Tony's "Quick and Dirty" videos cover topics of four-mallet technique and include performances of standard tunes such as "Come Rain or Come Shine", "Just Friends" and "Cherokee".
- Joe Locke (at http://www.joelocke.com/projects/sas.htm): The Joe Locke Quartet live at the A-Trane Jazz Club in Berlin, November 05, 2007, playing "The Rosario Material", also featuring Jonathan Kreisberg, Jay Anderson, Joe La Barbera. Joe Locke: 4-mallet style improvisation / Post-Bop style Jazz.
- Richard Szaniszlo [15] (at http://thejazznetwork.ning.com/video/video/show?id=1974321%3AVideo%3A173578) Hungarian jazz vibist. You can hear a beautiful unaccompanied vibes intro of his song called Storm and Rainbow.
Vibraphone recordings
Vibist Jerry Tachoir was the first to release an educational vibraphone. Vol I - The Vibraphone - Jerry Tachoir Vol II - The Vibraphone - Jerry Tachoir These are available at www.masterstudyseries.com
See also
- Balafon
- Glockenspiel
- Lithophone
- Marimba
- Marimbaphone
- Metallophone
- Xylophone
- List of vibraphonists
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The Vibraphone: A Summary of Historical Observations with a Catalog of Selected Solo and Small-Ensemble Literature; by Harold Howland; Percussionist, volume 13, no. 2, Summer 1977
- ↑ Musser History, http://www.ludwig-drums.com/content/musser_history.php
- ↑ http://www.deaganresource.com/vibraphones.html
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Acoustics of Bar Percussion Instruments; James L. Moore, Ph.D.; Permus Publications
- ↑ Yamaha YV3910 Vibraphone
- ↑ Bars, Resonators. Their behavior and how to act with it. Nico vanderPlas, http://www.vibesworkshop.com/story/bars-resonators-their-behaviour-and-how-act-it/nico/120608, requires membership to access
- ↑ Gary Burton Mallet Demo (video), http://www.vicfirth.com/artists/burton.html
- ↑ Ed Saindon, Technical Considerations (video), http://www.vicfirth.com/artists/saindon.html
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ed Saindon, Sound Development and Four-Mallet Usage for Vibes, http://www.vicfirth.com/artists/saindon/saindon_article.pdf
- ↑ Gary Burton Biography, http://www.garyburton.com/bio.html
- ↑ Tony Miceli, The Miceli Stoned Grip (video), http://larrysimprovpage.com/?q=node/49/play
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 The Vibes Real Book, Arthur Lipner, MalletWorks Music, 1996
- ↑ Do You Know What It Means (to Miss New Orleans) (video), Ed Saindon, http://www.vicfirth.com/artists/saindon.html
- ↑ Ed Saindon, demonstration
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Szaniszlo
- Introduction to Jazz Vibes; by Gary Burton; Creative Music; 1965.
- Vibraphone Technique: Dampening and Pedaling; by David Friedman; Berklee Press Publications; 1973.
- Contemporary Mallet Method - An Approach to the Vibraphone and Marimba; by Jerry Tachoir: Riohcat Music; 1980
|
||||||||||||||