Where do all the mallet people go?

[ingots]

If this off topic, please do bounce it to another forum or otherwise chastise me!

As strange as it may seem, after 46 years of living on earth and seeking out new and interesting music in at least a semi-active manner, last year was my first exposure to Drum Corp. I have a son who marched contra with Crown. Needless to say, I was quite impressed with the whole scene - the music, the dedication, the shows (yadda, yadda, heaping praises on you all!)

One on the things that stands out to me is the pits. Each corp has 15 or so musicians cranking out this cool, incredibly complex, fascinating music (while the brass and drumline and color guard take the visual glory)

My question is this: Where do all these mallet people go once they age out of Drum Corp? I would think the world would be full of ex-DCI pit people running around. I guess this shows my ignorance - I'm not even sure what someone who plays marimba or vibes or xylophone even calls themselves.

My small, shriveled brain can only think of several possible answers to the "Where do they go?" question. Do they:

- switch to different instruments?

- get music degrees and become middle school band directors?

- slide into the world of jazz?

- disappear from the face of the earth altogether?

Why I ask: Shameless self-promotion. Well, not really.

My personal musical background is as a rock/blues bassist. You know, the thumpin' electric stringed instruments, not the big honkin' drums. Lately I've been working on putting together kind of a groove/jazz/jam/ambient band as a musical side project (sorry about the fuzzy description...). B) Now, I would absolutely LOVE to have someone playing marimba or vibes or Mallet Kat in this band. There's nothing wrong with guitarists in general (heh, heh, heh), but having more that one in a band just leads to ego and volume wars. Let's face it: if you as a percussionist were putting together a small ensemble, how may squealing trumpets -- or should I say sops when posting on a Drum Corp board? -- would YOU invite?

Anyway, I would think the places I go to hook up with other musicians (local musician search forums, music store bulletin boards, local arts newspapers, etc) would be filled with messages like "Vibraphonist available". Instead, I've seen, well, nearly one.

Maybe I'm just looking in all the wrong places...

Bob in North Carolina

Bassist for Ginsu Jukebox

[RobH]

Hey Bob, where are you in NC? I'm in Ahoskie up in the NE corner of the state - we should get together sometime!

I would think that these "mallet people" (which in my day were called "percussionists!") have many options - some will be music majors and go into music as a profession, others will do other things with their lives, much like I did - some may get into symphonies, some may continue it as a hobby or as a personal instructor as a sideline, some may open music stores or drum shops, some will become doctors, lawyers, businesspeople, ministers, and the vast majority will end up as parents someday!

[ingots]

Hi Rob.

You mean they become - gasp! - regular people?

I'm just outside Charlotte. Looks like it's about 300 miles to Ahoskie. There's always FirstBeat and NightBeat, or maybe a DCI show closer to you.

Ahoskie is a great place name, by the way. How is that pronounced? I may may commandeer it for this band. That is if i can find a mallet pers..., er, I mean "percussionist".

Bob

[RobH]

Yes, Bob, most probably join the human race after their days in DC are finished - much like I did, except for my 4 years with the U.S. Naval Academy Drum & Bugle Corps, but that's a big exception to the rule!

It's pronounced "uh- HOS-kee" btw!

I think it's an Indian name but haven't found any tribal info here thus far to comfirm it!

It's an hour away from the Outer Banks, from Va Beach, from Greenville, a very great and peaceful place to live with wonderful peeps here who have been here forever!

[Eggbert]

Apparently quite a few of us mallet people end up on DCP. Where else is there to go?? hehehe

Not a lot of professional marimba/vibe players out there. The options within the music field are limited, becoming a symphonic percussionist or a band director or percussion instructor to train even more mallet players for the ranks of the unemployed.

For the most part, any call for mallet sounds is filled by synth keyboardists who can call up a vibe or marimba patch. It's not the same, but in most cases it's close enough.

Aside from drum corps, the universities pump out hundreds of talented mallet players every year. See your local soup line.

There are several reasons mallet instruments have not gained favor in the larger music world. Acoustic mallet instruments are limited in range and color. They are a beast to haul around and set up. They are very difficult to amplify unless you put a few extra thousand into a contact mic set-up. Almost anything that can be done on a mallet KAT can be done easier with a synth keyboard.

But... some of us are still pounding away at it. I just spent the last few months putting together an electric marimba. It's a hybrid Frankenmarimba, a cross between a student instrument, a marching marimba and a Fender Rhodes. It feeds a Roland GT3 which ends up sounding like an electric guitar on steroids. The hope is that it can compete with those pesky guitar volume wars. Either way, it's a lot of fun to play.

[RobH]

Cliff - good luck to ya - I had the same dilemma over 34 years ago - my dad told me that there wasn't much of a future for a musician in the midwest, unless you wanted to be a band director or music store owner.

Which is why I'm such a stickler for hitting the academics during high school - to give drum corps participants many more options with what to do with their lives after their DC days are done.

[PhantomR]

everyone on DCP that is going to nightbeat/firstbeat should meet.

hoorah!

~>conner

[ingots]

Cliff,

You're probably right on the whole synth thing. I just can't help thinking that there are these scores of extremely talented musicians floating around the country NOT playing, hovering just off the radar screen, mallets gathering dust since the day they aged out of DCI... From a totally non-musical standpoint, I would think a mallet player would have a lot more visual impact onstage than yet another gutarist or keyboardist.

I didn't consider the amplification issues. I was thinking you could treat the instrument like you would treat a minimally mic'ed drum set (you know - kick, snare, hi-hat, and get the rest with a pair of condensers). You must run into volume balance problems when using 4 or 5 mics.

The Frankenmarimba sounds extremely cool. I love the idea. Guitarists OUT! Percussionists IN!

Great website you have there, by the way! I get the feeling there are not many gamelons in Union County, NC.

Bob

[Eggbert]

scores of extremely talented musicians floating around the country NOT playing

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'll bet you could find a few at or around UNC. Maybe you could give them something to do? Mallets can work well in more intimate venues if the rest of the band can keep it down to a dull roar. Not suggesting that it can't be done, just illustrating a few of the reasons why it isn't done more often. You are right about the novelty of mallets being something different. I'd love to see it happen more often.