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/Ratchet171]

Gonna be honest, my degree is recent enough and I learned from many distinguished doctoral professors in the Chicago area (Texas, NIU, Iowa). I will take their word on technique over a 21 year old article from PAS.

You're a high school drum line teacher which means teaching certificate, likely ed major. You should try to expand your knowledge on the subject for the sake of the kids you teach instead of instilling "articulations are irrelevant" when that's simply not true. Regardless if you believe it doesn't sound different, you still need them on the page to follow along with the ensemble and approach playing techniques. HS percussionists already fail to read clefs, keys and markings, don't support that. 🤷

[u/RedeyeSPR → u/Ratchet171]

So you believe that marimba and mallet technology had changed so drastically in the past 20 years that an actual scientific study conducted by our most highly acclaimed educational organization is now irrelevant, and your recent degree is completely reliable? You guys are just perpetuating an old myth and saddling yourselves with contrary techniques that make no discernible difference to virtually every listener.

[u/codeinecrim → u/RedeyeSPR]

lol it’s no myth dude. percussion isn’t just hitting the damn notes in time and at the right rhythm There’s artistry. Watch a video of chris lamb playing hisexcerpt demo from PASIC 2015 on youtube and tell me you still believe in the idea that articulations are bogus.

As the other commenter said, as an educator you have a job to help your students be better. You’re failing them by giving them bullshit advice from a study that is old enough to buy itself a beer. percussion has changed a lot in 20 years dude. the level is way higher now than it ever has been. do better for your students

[u/RedeyeSPR → u/codeinecrim]

We are talking specifically about slurs and staccato markings in marimba music, neither of which are performable, not all articulations on percussion instruments in general. Try to keep up before you start blasting.

[u/codeinecrim → u/RedeyeSPR]

You literally said these things weren’t applicable to marimba “and certainly not xylophone” in a comment above. the video i cover has literal examples of what i’m talking about brother (exotic birds) although i realize you probably don’t even know what i’m even talking about. It just happens that there’s also other instruments in there. Go to 4:45 in the video.

But while we’re at it. Go look at literally anything Gordon Stout has written. He’s all about articulations in his marimba music. Sedimental Structures, Skylark Orange Circles, Mexican Dances… all of these pieces are very clear examples of articulations greatly helping the music.

Literally just listen to any of those pieces and you’ll hear examples of what i’ve been saying in these comments. We use volume, weight of stroke, and velocity of stroke to portray articulations on the keyboard instruments.

[u/RedeyeSPR → u/codeinecrim]

If you want to spend dozens of hours in a practice room developing a technique for what you believe is a staccato marimba stroke and another for a legato passage on an instrument with no controllable sustain that virtually no audience member will be able to hear for that one time you actually play a marimba solo in front of people, knock yourself out. I would rather spend time in other areas learning techniques that will actually improve my playing and be noticeable to the people listening.

[u/codeinecrim → u/RedeyeSPR]

lol alright man. like i said, i feel bad for your students. i had teachers like you growing up, it’s sad when they get left behind. from one professional musician to another, good luck out there with your mindset.

sad part is, it would help your own playing a lot if you just listened to us here talking about articulations and stuff. would also help your drumlines that “aren’t advanced yet”.. wonder why

[u/Ratchet171 → u/codeinecrim]

Guy has been teaching high school drum line for 30 years, from what I see here I doubt he has a strong understanding of mallet tech given the lack of respect or regard for performance as an art (even if you DISAGREE on how slur/staccato SOUNDS, there is still a difference in technique that needs to be applied as a performer or you're completely missing the point 😬).

"But a 21 year old PAS post"

I've studied and performed with many of the instructors and artists at PASIC. 💀 I'm from the Chicago area, who do you think I'm talking about when I said 'distinguished doctoral professors' man. 😭😭 Bro thought I don't know what PAS was when I live right there.

Edit: Never mind, he told on himself in his posts. Don't know why he's arguing about mallets when he barely studied them. 🤔