From my book: "The Vibraphone Virtuosity Series - Advanced Progressive Etudes - Multi-Stylistic 2 & 4
Mallet Studies For Solo Vibes
I've been loving the lessons that Behn has been posting about the tune. I have been playing it for a while and, in fact, have been using it for some of my most recent experiments. Yes to everything that Behn has been saying! We all have to practice and there are a lot of different productive ways to do it. Here a few thoughts about how I practice a tune like this.
The Arrival of Victor Feldman
Track 1 Serpent’s Tooth
Victor plays vibes. Early Miles Davis tune.
Track 2 Waltz
Chopin waltz that starts with piano, then vibes and back to piano. The track reminds me of MJQ.
Track 3 Chasing Shadows
A Victor Feldman original. Has a bebop feel. Played on piano.
Track 4 Flamingo
Nice ballad played on vibes. Tim Collins did a video on this tune.
Track 5 S’posin’
Starts on vibes, comps on piano during the bas solo and goes back to the vibes for the solo.
YouTube suggested this video for me. It is a restoration of a Galanti Vibraphonette.
Also, check out this video of "THE MAGIC WALTZ by Amedeo Tommasi | arranged for the Vibraphonette and Piano" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3u0AmI8v48
Barry
I’m back on the radio, ladies and gentlemen!
Someone contacted me about Musser vibes for sale. $2,000.
They are in Houston, Texas. I don't know them and I tell everyone beware when you're expecting someone to ship something after you've paid for it.
But if you're near Houston, check them out!
cloudssuyunwang@gmail.com (Cloud Wang)
Since “Dreamsville” seems to be the topic of discussion here I thought I’d contribute a solo version I did several weeks ago. I’d be more than happy to answer any questions about the piece, the performance, concept, etc. Enjoy.
Little sunflower link: https://youtu.be/656NXD4qmdE
Do you guys know about Allan Cox's "Meet The Bass Player" play-along tracks? They're very basic - bass and guitar - recordings of 12-bar blues and rhythm changes in a couple of common keys.
The thing about them that is most useful is that they cover a very wide range of tempos - 40 bpm to 340 bpm (yikes!). I use them for drum kit practice, but it occurred to me that they might be useful for vibraphone as well. I don't know of another play-along thing that covers that range of tempos.
The MalletKat is a serious electronic instrument for professional percussionists. I can do so much, dampening, pitch bend, 2 instruments layered and a lot more.