darkrhapsody

check your PMs.

When I read the title of this thread, I was thinking of one of their bus songs, definately not appropriate for forum posting.

A post somebody put up in a mallet playing forum online. I wanted to respond but had no idea where to begin. Any ideas? _____________ Uh I've definitely seen the Cavaliers, Blue Devils, Cadets, and other good drum corps. And yeah, the mallet players suck. All of that stuff is too technique based--in the real world, nobody cares how many notes you can cram into a beat if it doesn't sound good. If you want to hear good mallet playing, buy a Keiko Abe or Evelyn Glennie CD. And it's even better if you can see them in person. Both of them (and others, but these two do it a TON and are EXTREMELY FAMOUS for it) look absolutely INSANE playing. Keiko literally ATTACKS the marimba (teeny little Japanese woman playing a huge five octave marimba...) when she plays. Evelyn (who I met when I played for her in a masterclass and have seen in concert) lets the mallets flop around in her hands and it looks like she has no technique. Both women get an extremely good sound out of their instruments and can play waaay better than any DCI or WGI players ever will (I understand that those groups are for amateurs--still, though, it's unexcuseable to play mallets like that). Dave Brown is the only good mallet player ever to step foot into DCI. He's the reason we have pits today. When judges saw Dave play, they called him by name on the tapes because he was THAT GOOD. And don't give me #### about "oh but you have to project in marching band." Dave Brown projected like a mofo because of his extremely good technique (which was loose and floppy looking, not the bad DCI technique that is stressed these days). I've raised pits on the Brown/Glennie technique that project better than anything I've seen before. DCI players love their stiff wrists and forearm action and it pisses me off. _________________________ What do you think? Are any of their points valid or is it just somebody's biased/uneducated opinion. The URL of the post is http://www.livejournal.com/community/malle...ew=42461#t42461 if you would like to post a response to the person yourself. (YOu have to scroll towards the bottom to see it.

I am a huge fan of Steven's grip. Its always felt very natural in my hands. However, I use Burton's on vibes, since its better for dampening purpoes and stuff like that. You also don't generally need the mallet independance on vibe parts that you need in marimba parts.

Probably my favorite show to listen to ever. Its the one show I always have on my mp3 player.