I would like to start a discussion spawning off of message 1072

Firstly, I am very happy to see the number of younger percussionists playing marimba! In the past, many students weren't exposed to mallets until they were getting ready for college auditions. This contributed greatly to the stigma of percussionists being lousy in theory and not complete musicians. How can you expect to understand melody & harmony if you don't play a "melodic" instrument?

However, to answer Dave's question, I think that focusing on just the marimba is wrong for most student percussionists. Even those who don't go on in music will be more rounded and have more opportunities available if they can play all the percussion instruments. And, for those who go on in music, the job opportunities for marimbists are pretty slim. Most of the top marimbists didn't play marimba exclusively until they were in their late teens or twenties, and many of them still play & teach all percussion instruments. Teaching jobs don't often go to marimbists who don't play the other instruments. I wouldn't suggest any percussionist specialize in one area until at least the end of their undergraduate studies.

Bill Trigg

I hope I speak for everyone who answered the spark question, but since this is a marimba message board, I (at least) tried to stick to the subject of marimba. I do work on other stuff besides marimba, such as the vic firth timpani book, the cirone snare book, and the rudimental cookbook from row-loff. I just thought i should clarify this for me, personally.