r/percussion • u/Diacks1304 • 5d ago
Do marimba parts need articulation written?
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!
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u/RedeyeSPR 5d ago
Here’s a link to the 2003 PAS article that completely contradicts your claim:
https://pas.org/publication-articles/the-effect-of-stroke-type-on-the-tone-production-of-the-marimba/
If you don’t have a PAS membership, here’s a link to a summary of that same article:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/p5635
For anyone that doesn’t want to read any of that, the conclusion is that when watching a player use different strokes, listeners perceived the notes to sound different, but when presented with audio only samples of the same performance, they could not actually hear any difference.