A Two Octave Chromatic Marimba

In 2019 I got a 3 octave DeMorrow marimba. It was a great instrument at a fair price and I highly recommend it. These are considered student instruments because they have only 3 octaves instead of 4 or 5 and lack resonators, while offering a much better sound than a typical student level bells kit.

During this time period in my life I had retreated from going to Irish sessions or old-time jams and was staying at home making up my own little melodies. Marimba was great for this because it made me think about music in a different way. The chromatic keyboard layout with its black keys and white keys is so different from left-handed tenor banjo or mandolin tuned in 5ths or left-handed guitar tuned in 4ths.

Three octaves is considered small in size for marimba, however, it was still pretty huge when compared to a tenor banjo or mandolin. It was over four and a half feet wide! I played it for about a year and a half before selling it. I don't recall exactly why I opted to get rid of it but I'm impulsively fickle like that. It was probably because of space considerations.

I'm now considering getting a marimba again, but this time I only want it to be two octaves - 25 chromatic notes from C to C in the soprano range so that the lowest note is middle C. That should make it about three feet wide. Much easier to transport and find space for. The layout would be similar to the image below. I like the symmetry of the two / three / two / three black keys pattern.

Two octave chromatic marimba

When I moved to Oregon in 2024 I went back to learning and playing Irish tunes. My current repertoire consists almost entirely of tunes that are likely to be played at an Irish session, or what they call a Pan Celtic session. The payoff is that others are likely to know most anything I learn how to play. Since I am near Portland, there is a lot of crossover between the traditional Irish trad repertoire and the contra dance melodies as found in the Portland Collection books, which I love. 

By my estimate, at least 80% of the tunes played at an Irish session do not have a melody note lower than D. Maybe 90%. In other words, most of these tunes don't require the low G string of a violin to play them. And on the high end, only like 1% of the commonly played tunes have a note higher than B. This means that most of these tunes would fit in a two octave range from C4 to C6. 

I have a theory about why the Irish session repertoire is limited to this range. I think it's because these aren't "fiddle tunes", per se. Other instruments such as flute, D-whistle and uillean pipes have equal footing in the community, and on those instruments the lowest note is D. And on fiddle the highest note you can hit without leaving first position is the E-string B note that fiddlers play with their pinky. These tunes have evolved over the years to fit within that span.

On the rare occasion that a traditional Irish melody ventures down to a violin's G string, flute and whistle players use a technique called "folding" where they rearrange the portion that is too low for their instrument by playing in a higher octave. From what I understand, how much of it you fold up is determined on a case by case, player by player, basis. Sometimes it might just a note or two and other times entire phrases are moved to the higher octave. On occasion they may also use a harmony note like a third interval if that sounds OK. Failing that, perhaps you just sit that one out or play it on a banjo or mandolin.

A marimba would usually be 4.3 to 5 octaves. This allows marimbists such as Jenny Klukken to play low end notes and enjoy the full spectrum of sound that the marimba is designed for. In my case, I don't play with any sense of chords or harmony and I'm not playing music meant for marimba. I only play melodies. The fact that this folding technique exists for certain instruments in the Irish trad world gives me confidence that the same strategy could be applied to a two octave marimba.

I've tried some other instruments but none of them have worked. I got a melodica in October and quickly developed a lingering cough from inhaling some type of dust or bacteria from the tube that you use to blow air to make sound. F-that. I very briefly tried an English Concertina but I felt like that was going to give me wrist problems. None of these offered the same satisfaction of hitting a tuned percussion note with a mallet!

I probably won't be learning many reels on marimba. But jigs, slides, polkas, barn dances, and mazurkas are fair game, as well as slower airs and harp tunes.

To sum up, like I alluded to before, a marimba or xylophone can be a great second instrument for a string player because it takes you out of your comfort zone. Perfect for ear training and music theory - seeing and hearing things in a different way!

The Mallet Percussion Instrument Dilemma

Even though I've never played a proper one, for many years now I've had the feeling that I want to add a mallet percussion instrument to the list of instruments I own and play.  Related to that, in 2017 I took a few piano lessons, enough to realize that I don't want to actually play piano the way you're supposed to, but also enough to realize that from a musical standpoint I really like the layout of a keyboard or keyboard-like instrument with the notes of the C major scale running low to high left to right across the first row (the white keys) and the other five notes of the chromatic scale - the accidental notes in the key of C - across the second row (black keys).  A keyboard design like that has the same 12 musical notes as found on my tenor banjo but it really gets me out of my comfort zone, especially as a left-handed stringed instrument player.

Chromatic mallet percussion instruments like the marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel and vibraphone utilize that keyboard design.  So, last year I purchased a 2.5 octave glockenspiel (the most inexpensive and compact option) as a stepping stone to find out if I really wanted to play a mallet percussion instrument and the answer is YES.  I actually don't dislike the bell-like tone of the glockenspiel, but I am close to being ready to take the next step.

Of the three - xylophone, marimba and vibraphone - I like the sound of the xylophone the least so xylophone is easy to eliminate.  I love the sound of vibraphone in jazz and elsewhere (moe., Tortoise) but I haven't been able to find a viable vibraphone option in my budget range or space range (condo living doesn't leave much room for very large instruments).  So, sadly, the traditional vibraphone is out as well.  

That leaves marimba and fortunately there are some marimba options.  (There is another option, the MalletKAT, that I will get to in a moment). 

I've learned that there are basically two two very different marimba communities - the orchestral/academic community and the Zimbabwean/Shona community.  Both have marimba designs that have evolved to suit the repertoire and traditions of each group.  Me, being someone who just likes to write his own little melodies to be played on any instrument capable of producing those notes...I don't align with either community.  

In the orchestral/academic world the marimbas tend to be 4.3 or 5 chromatic octaves (meaning very big and very expensive) with graduated key widths and are designed to be easy to play/get around on while blending in with the rest of the orchestra.

In the Zimbabwe style, the soprano marimba plays the melody.  It is designed to be loud and serve its function by cutting through in the dense sound of multi-instrument marimba ensemble.  These soprano marimbas have wide keys in the 2.75 in to 3 inch range and are not chromatic.  This means the keys are all in one row and you don't have all 12 notes at your disposal.  I would need all 12 notes.  The Zimbabwe marimbas, being folk instruments, are often more rustic looking.  

 So what to do?  Well, in the orchestral/classical world there's a thing called a "student" marimba, designed as a less expensive practice instrument for the high school or college student to play at home.  These are usually three octaves and the absolute best option in this category that I've been able to find is the M1 3 Octave Marimba by DeMorrow Instruments.  These are hand made in Arkansas and the owner/builder Doug DeMorrow has an unsurpassed reputation.  The M1 would meet my needs and can be considered a real instrument.  It's about 54 inches long though, so still a relatively large instrument despite being compact by marimba standards. 

The M1 - 3 Octave Marimba by DeMorrow Instruments

The other option is to find a maker in the Zimbabwe style willing to make a customized chromatic Soprano style marimba - two octaves C4 to C6.  Eric Orem at Padauk Dust Marimbas in Oregon is just such a person.  Why just two octaves though?  Well for one thing a two octave range would fit 95% of the melody lines I like to play and secondly due to the larger key widths of a Soprano style instrument anything more than 2 octaves is going to be longer than the 3 Octave DeMorrow shown above.

A Chromatic Marimba made by Eric Orem at Padauk Dust Marimbas

Did you see the video at the top of this article?  In my mind a 2-octave chromatic soprano would be the best of both worlds - you'd be playing an instrument designed for lead melodies but you'd also have all 12 notes at your disposal.  Unless it's just TOO LOUD for my living space.  You could also dial back the width of the keys just a bit...a 2-octave instrument with keys at about 6cm wide would come in at about four-feet in length or less.  I don't know if on an instrument like this you would need width-graduated keys or if the keys could be a static width.

There is a 3rd option, the MalletKAT.  I think of the MalletKAT as being like a synth option.  It's electronic and they no longer make them with internal sounds, so you would need some kind of external sound source like a KETRON sound module or a computer program or app to create the sounds, and a speaker or amplifier to hear those sounds.  The one I would get is the MalletKAT Express.  It's compact at just 32" wide and already comes in that C to C two octave range that I like.  The question I keep asking myself is do I want to have to deal with all this technology?  I just want to be able to play melodies on a mallet percussion instrument.  The banjo I play isn't electric so why would I want that in a different instrument?  But I'm still considering the MalletKAT.  The versatility in sounds would be cool and once you learn how it's programmed it's probably pretty easy to operate.  (I realize there's also a competitor to the MalletKAT called the Pearl malletSTATION but that instrument is of less interest to me).    

The MalletKAT Express

I've been deep into research mode and hope to make a decision soon.

The Poor Man's Electric Vibraphone

My fantasy instrument is some type of mallet percussion instrument - like a xylophone, vibraphone or marimba.  Whether being used in the Brazilian Classical/Folk recordings for Ney Rosauro or Uakti; in the jazz of Bobby Hutcherson, Walt Dickerson and many others; in the indigenous music of Guatemala's Marimba Chapinlandia; or in the rock-like settings utilized by Tortoise, Frank Zappa, and more; I just love this melodic yet percussive sound.

I especially like the idea of an electric version of this type of instrument, but considering the costs of a Marimba Lumina, malletKAT, or Xylosynth, I don't think I'll be spending that kind of money on a musical whim any time soon.  A decent quality piano keyboard like the Roland GO:KEYS can be had for $300 or less, so you'd think that someone would have produced an electric synth vibraphone/marimba/xylophone at a similar price point.

Enter Keith McMillen Instruments.  While their $79 K-Board isn't intended to be an electric vibraphone, it comes close to scratching that itch.  In fact, it might be just what I am looking for!

I'm used to playing melodies on an acoustic 4-string tenor banjo, so when I came across the K-Board through an online search last week I wasn't quite sure what technology it was supposed to be.  I assumed an instrument like this would have its own internal sounds, built-in speakers, and power source/battery.  None of that is the case.  After a little bit more digging, I learned of MIDI sound modules like the Midiplus miniEngine  and the MidiTech PianoBox which could provide the necessary power and sounds, as alternatives to a computer or iOS device.

I took a chance and ordered the K-Board, along with the Midiplus MiniEngine Pro and a couple cheap, tiny rubber mallets.  I already own a little speaker that can plug into the headphone jack.  These items arrived yesterday and worked right out of the box!  Here's a sound sample:

The K-Board features 25 chromatic keys, making it super compact and portable.  The bottom row contains the white piano key notes C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C from low to high, while the top row contains the black keys C# D# F# G# A# C# D# F# G# A# (also known as Db Eb Gb Ab Bb Db Eb Gb Ab Bb).

Before ordering I thought about the tunes that I like to play and realized that almost all of them contain melodies that live within that 25-key range.  On my GDAE tuned tenor banjo, it is rare for a tune to have a note higher than the high B of the 7th fret of the E string (the 2nd to highest "white key" on the K-Board) and it is fairly unusual for these same tunes to have a note lower than the open D on the D-string (the 2nd to lowest "white key" note on the K-Board).  Basically, my tunes would fit.

I wasn't sure how that MidiPlus MiniEngine pro would sound, but considering that it looked like the exact same same design as the supposedly German made - and twice as expensive - PianoBox, I opted for the cheaper version and it sounds OK to me.

The K-Board is described as being unbreakable - designed to withstand drink spills and being run over by a vehicle - so I figured it could handle being struck by mallets.  The 25 chromatic keys are designed like mini drumpads anyway, so it wouldn't be that unusual to hit them with a mallet or drumstick.

Having now tried playing it with mallets, I'm not sure if that will be my preferred method or if it will be more enjoyable to play with your fingers.  As someone who once took a typing class and can type on a computer keyboard, I like how the layout of the K-Board's keys - while based on the setup of a piano - could ultimately lend itself to a typing influenced approach.

Despite having less than a day's worth of experience with this instrument, I'm thinking that the K-Board will be fun to play.  It will also be a handy thing to have around for working out melodies by ear.  As a left-handed stringed instrument player, the layout of a keyboard like this is very non-intuitive at first, so it's a great brain exercise to realize that higher notes are to the right, if that makes sense.

My hope is that Keith McMillen Instruments does come out with something actually designed to be an electric vibraphone, at a price range well below the few other items currently on the market.  However, at the moment I don't mind pretending that the K-Board is already that instrument.  I probably would be a two mallet player instead of four, and key size and authenticity aren't as important to me as simply being able to play melody lines in a fun and easygoing way.

Ney Rosauro - Seven Brazilian Children's Songs for solo marimba

I was listening to the first hour of the public radio show Performance Today on July 15 when I heard some really cool sounding music that turned out to be "Brazilian Fantasy: Bach in Brazil" by Ney Rosauro.  It was an in-studio live recording of the Seattle Marimba Quartet performing this nine minute piece.  I loved the melodies and rhythms and it immediately occurred to me that I could maybe adapt parts of this for tenor banjo.

I learned that Ney Rosauro is a Brazilian composer, percussionist and vibes/marimba player.  His Brazilian Fantasy is a duet for two marimbas that mixes original music, traditional Brazilian folk tunes, Bach melodies/chord structures, and melodies by Brazilian composer Carlos Gomes.

Further research on Ney Rosauro uncovered a project he did about twenty years ago called "Seven Brazilian Children's Songs for solo marimba".  These are kind of like études he wrote based on melodies and rhythms from Brazilian folklore, for the purposes of developing basic four-mallet (marimba) technique and increasing the musicality of the person practicing them.  Despite (or because of) this, they sound like the kind of melodies I like to play.

These Children's Songs are numbered 1 through 7 (there are seven of them) and you can buy the sheet music from Lone Star Percussion.  Upon listening, my instant favorites are No. 3 Pirulito que Bate Bate and No. 6 A Moda da tal Anquinha.  The music for Pirulito que Bate Bate is available for free download on Ney Rosauro's website.  Here are some YouTube videos of a young woman playing these songs very well.

A Moda da tal Anquinha

Pirulito que Bate Bate

Although these pieces were written for marimba, for the most part they can be played as tunes on tenor banjo or any chromatic instrument.  Sometimes what I hear as the melody is actually written as the bass-line, but to me it still serves as the melody whenever there isn't a simultaneous treble clef sound happening.  This is especially true for A Moda da tal Anquinha.  

For Pirulito que Bate Bate there is a sequence of double stops at the end of one section that doesn't quite translate in an interesting way when played on the tenor banjo.  I've been experimenting with playing a little melodic run in its place.  At least part of this melodic run is based on a transposition of something that is happening elsewhere in the piece, so that may be why it seems to fit.

Eventually I would like to learn more of these Brazilian Children's Songs, or go back to the Brazilian Fantasy: Bach in Brazil piece that sparked this interest in the first place.  For now I'm enjoying making two-part fiddle tunes out of Pirulito and Anquinha.  Here are my takes on them as of this morning.

Anquinha

Pirulito

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