Hi:
everyone. i have been work on the prism almost three months...and i have hard time to get to the tempo without wrong notes and tension which marks 120......and i knew it's impossible that the whole piece goes that tempo....does anyone has any suggestion...how to play this peice fast and less wrong notes.....thank you.........

...Slow and steady with met. Granted, wrong-notes are always a factor (obviously, with an un-attatched, 16 inch implement, coming down on approx. a 1 to 3 inch target while moving on 3 axis), but the metronome is the best weapon in this battle, along with self-discipline and LOADS of patience.

It took me 6 months to work Conversation in the Forrest (essentially, Prism) up to where it needed to be. Granted, that was between two of us, but we still practiced that piece slow and steady until it became natural. I don't think we cranked the tempo up until 3 weeks before the performance; and when we did, it was easy (because we knew it literally from head to toe) thanks to the slow met. Along with this "physical training" came the ease in developing and maintaining phrasing and technique (including playing position on the bar) in the same self-disciplinary manner.

Once again, we've all heard it before, but it's never bad to remind ourselves again.

Best,

CjT

A technique that has often hepled me on that style of music is to learn it slowly, and sometimes sectionally, until I'm comfortable with it. Once I'm comfortable, I'll play it with the cover on the marimba. This has the effect of eliminating the tendancy to look for a key; also, it helps break mental and confidance blocks. The only caveat is I only recommend it if your are playing on the asame marimba or at least the same model that you will perform on.