Are there any good self-teach instructional books or videos available for the marimba? I'd like to learn to play and am retired and have the time to try and teach myself. Is it possible. I would welcome any suggestions on how one might start to teach themselves this wonderful instrument.

Thank you.

Joel T. tacky@hughes.net

What about Stevens' Method of Movement?

Cheers,

Nat

If you're interested in starting out with two mallets, I'd suggest these two texts:

George Hamilton Green's Instruction Course for Xylophone - written in the 1920s, and still commonly used today, and if I understand correctly, they were created as fifty individual lessons for self-instruction. (If you're not familiar with G.H. Green, know that he was one of, if not the, top xylophonists of his day.) There is also a collection of G.H. Green xylophone rags, which you may be interested in purchasing as well.

Also, Phil Kraus put out three mallet instruction books, which were (and may still be) standard instructional texts.

If you have an interest in jazz, Dave Samuels has two very good texts out: "A Musical Approach to Four Mallet Technique for Vibraphone" (vols. I and II). Much of what is in there relates to the vibraphone, but a good amount of it may be applied to marimba as well. It also offers a good explanation of the Burton grip (the four-mallet grip created by jazz great Gary Burton.)

The Stevens "Method of Movement," mentioned in another posting in this thread, is also a standard instructional text. If you are looking to learn to play marimba for your own enjoyment during your retirement (I can't be certain of this based on your original posting), know that this text focuses on the fine details of technique and technical exercises, and not so much on performing pieces of music.

Best of luck - I hope you get much enjoyment out of your marimba studies.

Best wishes,

Jim