BY ANDY HARNSBERGER & Innovative Percussion

Avoiding Injury by Warming Up

If you are anything like the average person, you are constantly faced with time constraints. Because of this, our practice sessions often turn into “note cramming sessions”, where we try to learn as many notes as possible in a short amount of time, or play through our recital pieces up to tempo several times within that short period. Not only is this detrimental to the hands, but it can also be harmful to the overall performance in recital situations.

For many percussionists, warming up is walking into the practice room, picking up the mallets and whizzing through some scales or technical exercises. Remember you are using some very delicate muscles, and these muscles need to be warmed up BEFORE you use them. Just as athletes incorporate stretching into their warm-up routine, so should you stretch before you start to play.

     by Gene Koshinski

Throughout my career I have taken special interest in the two-mallet keyboard percussion solo repertoire.  The music is eloquent and rich from its early stages in ragtime xylophone to today's contemporary art music.  Key performers such as George Hamilton Green, Sammy Herman, Clair Omar Musser, Bob Becker and Evelyn Glennie have dazzled audiences with their mastery of two-mallet technique.

    by Mark Ford
    Courtesy of Innovative Percussion

Developing your interpretation of the music you play is one of the most important and satisfying aspects of music making. Your interpretation reflects your ideas and feelings about the music. Unfortunately, younger musicians usually concentrate only on understanding the notes and rhythms of a marimba solo. Obviously, this is important, but it’s only fifty percent of the job.

There are a lot of marimbas out there and it may seem overwhelming when you are deciding what might be best for you.  However, when you weigh the major differences between the high end models and the models that are designed more for students, it's easy to decide what you would like and what might be your perfect fit.  Here is some fundamental information to consider during your marimba search.