Marimba
Mallet instrument with wooden bars and resonator tubes, lower and mellower than the xylophone.
What it means
The marimba is a mallet instrument: wooden bars, usually of rosewood or synthetic material, are laid out like a keyboard. Beneath each bar hangs a tuned resonator tube that reinforces and prolongs the sound. It is played with mallets whose heads, depending on their hardness, give a soft or more defined attack.
The sound is warm and round and lower than that of the xylophone, whose bars are narrower and whose tone is drier and brighter. The concert marimba covers more than four octaves.
Musical use
The marimba has roots in Africa and Central America. In Guatemala and in Chiapas, Mexico, it is a popular folk instrument, often played by several players together. In the 20th century it became a concert instrument: composers wrote solo pieces and used it in the orchestra and in chamber music. Minimalist composers have been especially fond of it.
The marimba should be distinguished from the vibraphone, whose metal bars produce a floating sound with a motor and a damper pedal.
Performance practice
Play with a loose wrist and let the mallet rebound at once after the stroke so that the note can ring freely. Low notes sustain for a long time; for fast bass passages a drier stroke or a roll may be needed to link the notes.