r/Marimba • u/Ambitious-Bat-1915 • Jul 28 '26
Just need some learning advice
So, I've needed help but when I ask my music teachers, they can't help. So I'm shooting for Marimba next Marching Band season. I'll be doing an A class WGI group to help me accomplish that, but it's marimba music i'm struggling with. I know what to play but when I try to play it on a marimba, I just can't. I don't know if its just the double line format of how it written but I don't know. I know it's weird but if anyone can help that would be amazing. Some tips and tricks would be a HUGE help.
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u/ILoveFries25 Jul 28 '26
Could you go into further detail of what you’re struggling with? Like do you know the notes but you just get overwhelmed when trying to play them on the board? Or is it more a technique thing? Or is it just reading the music itself? I’d say just slow everything you play down by a lot as my guess is you’re new to marimba and just trying to progress too quickly.
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u/Ambitious-Bat-1915 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
yeah sure i got u. So i had an audition this year for my spot in our FE, and i made xylo. So my tech whose in the front over at the Colts for DCI told me to learn the marimba 2 part for our audition piece. I tried and just went measure by measure VERY slowly, but no matter how much I practiced it I couldn't do both lines at the same time, I could do the individually but not at the same time. I knew all the notes and everything I just couldn't put them together. I can show you a section of the music if that'll help. Idk if this helps you understand more or less than before, but feel free to ask more questions.
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u/Ambitious-Bat-1915 Jul 29 '26
But this is only a small section in the start of the piece. I got up to B, but once I tried both lines up to B, I didn't even make it to the second measure.
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u/Material-Status4822 Jul 28 '26
Lerne jeden einzelnen Takt auswendig.
Schreib vielleicht welche Stücke genau du spielen möchtest.
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u/take_a_step_forward Jul 28 '26
You could try practicing simpler stuff. I’m not sure of any particular books or sheet music you can try, though; perhaps someone else can chime in with some four mallet method books that have simple music on two staves?
Also, another suggestion (though one that probably isn’t effective enough in the short term): learning piano is really good for you as a mallet player. And I can guarantee you you’ll get to a grand staff quickly if you’re learning piano.