I am going to be playing Tanaka's Two movements for marimba at this year PASIC high school individuals marimba competition. I have lately just played it with a set of hard mallets by VMAX. These seem to work fine for the first movement but the second has the soft roll inthe beginning and needs a fuller tone (softer as well). Not only that but the whole piece just isnt filled out when i use these peircing hard mallets, so can someone please give me a couple of suggestions for mallets use on this piece??
Thanx!!

Most Sincerely
Sean Ritenauer
Interlochen Arts Academy

When I last performed the Tanaka, I actually used Stevens LS15H mallets on the second movement. The piece came off great, though it put a lot of wear on the mallets. You could try the LS17Z or LS27Z two-tone Stevens mallets for more of a difference.
Robert Van Sice has a set of two tone mallets made by Vic Firth, and there are also a couple of two-tone mallets by VMAX.
I hope this is helpful

-Michael

Dear Sean,
I think that the Van Sice two-toned mallets would work very well for the second movement. I don't think Weiss has them anymore so try Percussion Source. Another thing about the Tanaka, you should read the articles about wrong notes it will add so much to the piece if you add/change a few notes.

I have had bad experiences with the Van Sice 2 tones, but other people seem to like them... I dont know. I would agree with the malletech Stevens 15 Heavys (2tone) for movement 2, (or maybe start with a softer mallet then do a mallet change?) and would recommend a heavy medium mallet for mov. 1 like Nancy Zeltsman, Nanae mimura or some of the heavier ABC mallets. (Zivkovic model perhaps)