Choosing The Right Mallets

Ramu Thiruyanam, Resident Writer for the Percussion Column
Ramu is a Vic Firth Education Endorser and sought after Percussion Clinician.

Suggested Mallets for Different Mallet Instruments

(Note: these are general suggestions, and not meant to be “the final word” in mallet selection.)

Marimba – a variety of wrapped yarn and cord mallets for solo literature; hard yarn, cord, or unwrapped rubber-core mallets for ensemble work. General shapes of mallet heads are oval shaped with a greater contact surface to large, rounded mallet heads to occasional mushroom-shaped heads.

Marimba mallets in general are the longest and most expensive of all mallets, so having the right selection of mallets for your ensemble is crucial for your budget as well. Here are several examples of marimba mallets that will give you a rough idea as to what the different models can do.

The Robert Van Sice (RVS) and Gifford Howarth (GH) Signature Marimba Mallets are the standard mallets used by many marimba players, and rightfully so because of the colors and textures the mallets are able to provide the musician.

The major difference between the two is the fact that the RVS mallets has a maple shaft compared to the regular birch shaft, which makes it a little heavier but smoother on the skin. The shafts are also longer than standard marimba mallets to provide that extra reach for soloistic works and octave leaps.

This particular series is very effective for ensemble playing and for soloistic works, and the harder mallets are great on the higher range of the instrument. The highs really cut through in this series, and provide excellent clarity.

Robert Van Sice Signature Mallets

The GH mallets on the other hand comes with unfinished birch which gives that extra grip to the marimbist, and the sizes of the head varies quite significantly between the softest mallet to the hardest mallet.

This series of sticks produce a really rich tone especially on the lower ends of the marimba, but are generally on the softer side in general when compared to the RVS series. A very warm series of mallets, with good lush tones in the mids and clarity on the high ends.

Gifford Howarth Signature Mallets

A series of mallets that I personally use most of the time are the Virtuoso Keyboard Mallets. I feel that this particular series work best in the concert band setting because of it’s ability to ‘cut’ across the band.

Most instrumentalists forget that the marimba is used in a concert band and not in an ensemble or soloistic setting, so there are times where the marimba is rarely heard over the band. With these mallets, it enables the user to really play out and above the band at times without sacrificing tone and additional strength.

Lightweight yet full sounding, the hardest mallets in the series tend to be a little rough at times on the mids so it’s generally recommended to get the hardest pair only when superb clarity and the highest register of the instrument is being used or if a xylophone-like sound is required.

Virtuoso Keyboard Mallets

The Pesante Keyboard Mallets on the other hand are rather heavy, full bodied mallets that have a rattan shaft that is ideal for these weighted mallets.

These mallets are unique in the fact that the harder mallets in the series are cord wound and can be used on both vibraphone and on the marimba, and the largest (which is the softest pair) produces a really dark, rich bass sound that is good on any marimba over 4.3 octaves long.

It has a very bold, deep sound across the entire series and has a beautiful sonority. However, for fast and light runs, a lighter pair of mallets should be chosen instead.

Pesante Keyboard Mallets

Most mallets are numbered in accordance to its hardness; i.e. the smaller the denomination, the softer the mallet. And most of the time, the harder the mallet, and the smaller the head would be.

This concept would be useful to remember when picking sticks out of a mallet bag due to the fact that there may not be enough time to check out the model type during a performance!

My main recommendations for marimba mallets are to go for heads that are made of yarn and to have shafts that are made of birch or rattan (personally I prefer the latter) and have a little weight to the heads, so that one would not need to overplay to get the same desired volume.Vibraphone - cord mallets tend to be better suited than yarn mallets, for use on the vibraphone.

The reason is simple: cord wound mallets have greater holding strength compared to yarn mallets as yarn mallets would fray easily when used to strike on metal bars, and the other reason is that yarn wound mallets tend to be a little too warm sounding for most vibraphonists.

Of course, this is a matter of personal preference, and there are quite a number of yarn wound mallets that do sound great on the instrument. Jazz players especially, should have a variety of hard and moderately soft cord-wrapped mallets, using the prominent contact sound to help the player be heard in an ensemble setting.

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Related posts:

1. Understanding Mallet Shafts And Heads