The JOURNAL of PERCUSSION PEDAGOGY
Volume 1, No. 1 - October 2008
Rethinking a Pedagogy of Beginning Four-Mallet Technique
Kathleen Kastner
In my 35 years of percussion teaching, I have had the opportunity to teach a variety of students, at different ages, levels of playing and on a variety of percussion instruments. When I first began teaching college students in the seventies, there were many students who had little exposure to four-mallet marimba playing and thus teaching included more of the basics even at the college level. Even today, some of my college percussion majors come in with minimal experience playing four-mallets, in spite of the fact that they have some good skills in other facets of percussion.
The Challenge
In both private teaching and clinic sessions, I have come across the experience of a high school percussionist who is/was asked to play a four-mallet part in band, with little more than the instruction from the band director, “Here is how you hold the mallets and here is the music for you to learn.” Now this is not an indictment of the band directors, for they have so many details to oversee and there is woefully little time for them to accomplish all the challenges that daily confront them. Often, it is the lack of time and one-on-one instruction that keeps the details from finding a solid home in the student’s technique.
Confronted with this dilemma over the years, I have come to consider the pedagogy of beginning four-mallet technique as being comparable to the training one must undertake for a marathon, in terms of muscle strengthening and endurance. The difference in the comparison of these two endeavors however, is that marimbists need to strengthen the small muscles of the hand and fingers; I often use the analogy of weight-training for the hands and fingers, as my students generally understand that concept.
An Overview
With this analogy in mind, I developed a progressive series of exercises to accomplish the goal of strengthening the small muscles of the hand and fingers that are involved with four-mallet marimba playing. These exercises are applicable to a Stevens or Musser grip. Typically it takes four to six weeks of these exercises, practiced concurrently with the student’s study of two-mallet exercises and repertoire, to develop the strength to successfully tackle the beginning or intermediate four-mallet repertoire (the level dependent on the student’s reading skills).
I have used this approach for more than two decades of working with high school and college students who have little or no background in four-mallet playing and I am convinced that this focus on developing hand and finger strength, without the distraction of learning notes, offers an efficient and solid approach to four-mallet playing. Furthermore, this method also helps the student become more aware of muscle tension in the arms, hands and fingers, which in turn allows for a more healthy, pain-free experience.
The Method
Week One
In the first week, I instruct the student to practice arpeggios using only the outside mallets (mallets 1 and 4 in a 1-2-3-4 numbering system from low to high). The two mallets are held between the third and fourth fingers, loosely held in place by the fourth and fifth fingers. The thumb and index finger loosely touch each other and are to remain completely relaxed.
I have the students practice arpeggios because there is some space between the notes and because they are familiar with one-octave major arpeggios, as I emphasize these in their two-mallet study. Because the students know their major arpeggios, they don’t have to think about the notes, which is helpful since the aim with the outside mallets is slightly off from what they are used to experiencing. I emphasize to the student that accuracy is not the most important goal. Rather getting used to the feeling of these “foreign” mallets in the outside position is of primary importance, along with staying relaxed while still being able to control the mallets.
The students are instructed to practice with the outside mallets for 15-20 minutes a day, but in three to four increments of five minutes each. I caution all of my students about the possibility of their skin being irritated and/or the formation of blisters because of the contact of the mallet with the formerly untouched area of the fingers. I have found that typically, the students that have fingers with a little more muscle around their bones, generally will only have a slight irritation (a reddening of the skin), while those students with little muscle on their fingers (”skinny” fingers) seem to be more prone to the development of blisters. The goal, of course, is to develop a callous, but this takes time and a lot of practice. Thus, this early stage of callous development can be frustrating if students are not observant of the condition of their skin on the middle finger. I encourage students to use a band-aid when there is a blister forming so the blister does not break, as that will set them back a bit due to the pain. I have found that after the first couple weeks, this issue of skin irritation diminishes in most students - and it should be noted that I have had many students where this has never been an issue.
One other related issue is important to acknowledge: my approach to mallet choice – that is, the use of rattan or birch – is a decision I leave up to the preferences of my students. I have learned over the years that students have different levels of comfort with birch and rattan. However, in this process of practicing with the outside mallets, I ask the students if they have any pain or if their fingers hurt in any way (some of them readily volunteer this information). On occasion, a student (often one with ”skinny’” fingers) has noted that there is some pain against the bone and I wi ll suggest that the student try rattan mallets, as there is more flexibility in the rattan and the bone might not become quite as irritated as a result.
Week Two
At the student’s next lesson, after addressing the two-mallet material, I allow about 30 minutes to address the student’s four-mallet technique. We review the outside mallet experience of the previous week’s practice and I have the student play several minutes with the outside mallets to make sure that there is no tension and to confirm the student’s comfort with the outside mallets.
The next step is to demonstrate the complete grip and have the students add the inside mallets to the outside mallets. I have the student do this one hand at a time, beginning with the dominant hand. In my teaching, I have always affirmed the ability of the dominant hand to be a model for the non-dominant hand, particularly when it comes to learning new aspects of technique. If the dominant hand can more naturally grasp a new concept the non-dominant hand has a “resident” model, which is far more effective than just watching a teacher demonstrate it, as important as that is.
Once the grip in the dominant hand feels somewhat secure, then I ask the student to find the most comfortable interval (staying on the natural “white” notes in the middle octave of a five octave instrument). Typically a third or fourth is chosen; this often is related to the size of the hand. I find that taller students with larger hands tend to find the fourth a more comfortable interval and the students with smaller hands gravitate towards the third. Only once in all my years of teaching can I remember a student who felt the second was most natural and comfortable initially and likewise, only one student felt the fifth was most comfortable on the first try. This procedure is then repeated in the non-dominant hand; occasionally, a student will choose a different interval for each hand because each hand has a different level of comfort. No matter what the choice, the emphasis should be on what feels most comfortable and natural.
Once the comfortable interval is chosen for each hand, the assignment for the next week’s practice is to practice the interval(s) up and down a one octave scale, staying on the naturals in the middle octave of a five-octave instrument. I instruct the student to stay in that octave because there is minimal change in interval size within one octave and a stable distance is important in this initial stage. Once again, I instruct the student to practice this material, evenly dividing the time between hands, 15-20 minutes a day, but in three to four increments of five minutes each.
Week Three and Beyond
After listening and watching the student play the initial comfortable interval(s), we proceed to choose the next comfortable interval size for each hand. It is interesting to see how much stronger the student’s muscle strength is even after only practicing one week as the intervals that were awkward just a week earlier can be more easily negotiated. The practice procedure described above is repeated for the week and the process continues, adding a new interval for the next two weeks.
This beginning process of adding an interval continues only until the student can play a second, third, fourth and fifth comfortably. It should be noted that sometimes a student is not ready to move on to a new interval in one hand or both on any given week so the overall process may take longer than six weeks.
Once the student can negotiate either a second, third and fourth or a third, fourth and fifth, I have the student begin to do some exercises that involve changing the interval.
Also, when the student has secured a solid third in the left hand and a fourth in the right hand, I introduce the concept of playing major chords up and down an octave (C-E-G-C-bottom to top). This is expanded when the student can master a fifth in the left hand and play the C-G-C-E (bottom to top) and move up and down the octave. Other chords and inversions can be added as the student’s control of intervals expands.
Once a student has mastered the basic intervals, I introduce an easy four mallet piece, often chosen from the following: Gomez/Rife: Rain Dance (the measures at the end of the rolled section may need to be re-voiced for those who cannot reach an octave or ninth); the three- and four-mallet movements of the Pitfield Sonata, or one of the Zivkovic Funny Marimba early pieces. In the process of learning appropriate four-mallet repertoire, when the need for mastery of the intervals of a 6th, 7th or octave arises, the student is often ready as the strength and flexibility of his or her grip grows with the completion of a progressive repertoire.
It should be noted that as the student progresses with her or his four-mallet development, other technical issues are naturally addressed: incorporation of the chromatic notes, rolling four-mallet chords, and beginning hand-to-hand independence exercises (1-3-2-4; 4-2-3-1; 1-4-2-3 and 2-3-1-4 and others). I often use Mitchell Peters’ Yellow After the Rain, which provides a veritable catalog of all the beginning four-mallet techniques.
From this solid foundation, combined with regular and disciplined practice, appropriate repertoire and method book, a student will continue to strengthen the muscles of the hands and fingers, resulting in an increasing level of four-mallet performance.
About the Author
Kathleen Kastner is Professor of Percussion, teaches percussion, as well as twentieth century music history and world music at Wheaton College. As Wheaton's first resident percussion teacher, she founded the Percussion Ensemble in the fall of 1972. She received her doctorate from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she studied with Thomas Siwe. Dr. Kastner has been involved in the Percussive Arts Society for many years, having previously served as a member of the Board of Directors, associate editor for research of Percussive Notes, chair of the Scholarly Research Committee, PAS historian, and Illinois State Chapter President.
