Hello,
I'm brand new here and have a rather unusual problem. Long story short. I need to build a keyboard for my son who is 11. I am going to purchase bars, bar posts, ect. from one of the major tuning operations. I'd just purchase an instrument but my problem is the space. I own a very small home and don't have room for a marimba. I'm going to build a frame that can be set on a table and that can fold. I was wondering how big a range will I need for him to begin learning the basic 4 mallet literature? 4 octive, 4.3 octive? He will have access to a 4.3 when he goes to high school but he is ready to begin 4 mallets at this time and I'd like to give him that opportunity.

Thank you all in advance for any help you can give to me. Jim P.

4.3 will be fine for a while, especially if you have such space restrictions.

Hi - at least a 4 and most likely a 4.3. One thing to check is the all state / regional auditions for middle school and eventually high schoo. Check the range needed for the repertoire they've been asking for those auditions. Try links from your state's music educators association page. In NJ they always keep the repertoire selected in the 4 octave range. greg