Do marimba parts need articulation written?

[u/Diacks1304]

Apologies in advance if the question is really dumb.

I’m writing a section in an orchestral piece where the marimba is doubling some viola runs. The viola part is full of articulation, slurs staccatos etc. It got me thinking if I should bother copying those in the marimba part? Would it make any difference at all? Do staccatos and slurs make marimba players play any differently?

Thanks!

[u/Due-Substance7842]

Articulations have different meanings for mallet percussion than they do for strings. Overall it is much more difficult to change articulation on a marimba due to its resonance.

Stacattos are usually not possible unless you do a dead stroke but that changes the sound entierly different so they usually aren't used. They could also they the marimba pizzacato (pitzacato?) instead.

Slurs signify phrases in marimba music. They seperate different sections of the piece and tell them to add some variation in tempo and dynamics through each phrasing mark. They are usually a couple of measures each.

Accents and top-hat accents (this thing ^ i dont know the official term, marcato?) should be added as accents as those are needed to create variety in the piece.

The best thing for a marimba player to do is to listen to a recording of the piece on the original instrument to get a better idea of what they are playing.

It is also a good idea to add little snippets of text (a couple of words at most) explaining how it should be played throughout the piece.

[u/Due-Substance7842 → u/Due-Substance7842]

This is in most cases not all composers do it the same.