I'm always looking to see and hear how people play in different situations and whether it holds my attnetion.

David Patrios is a great mallet player. Just look how he plays in this duo!

He's on a .... is it a Balifon? Or do I just call it a marimba? I don't know.

But he makes great melodies.

This just reminds me what we need to make music. We don't need 4 mallets going on all the time. For most of us that's a good think. We need strong melodies with chords interspersed!

"Send In The Clowns" composed by Stephen Sondheim in 1973 for the play A Little Night Music. A beautiful song with deep lyrics sung by many vocalists including Judy Collins, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and Betty Buckley. All great versions but my favorite is the one by Dame Judi Dench performing it in 2010 on the BBC program for Sondheim's 80th birthday celebration.

The rest are on my YouTube channel and on this site. Let me know what you think!

The rest of these are on my YouTube channel. Let me know what you think!

This one's for you, David! More exaggeration of dynamics! Let me know what you think.

This one took me three takes because at the end on the Bb chord, I kept hitting a C in my top mallet instead of a high D. That's one of the harder chords for me to reach in this book. I also strayed a little from the Gregorian chant-like quality it's supposed to have, which is funny because I was actually really into Gregorian chants as a middle schooler. Anyway, all of the etudes I'm doing are on my YouTube channel if anyone wants to listen to them!

Transcribe my solo.
1st chorus - quarter note solo
2nd chorus - simple solo

Play my solo, then do yours.
Your first chorus needs to be quarter notes
Second chorus, simple and swinging.

I've attached a file with only brushes. You can use the to play along with.

This is my last of the three Bud Powell solo arrangements I worked on. I really leaned into the big band vibe for this one -- there's a shout-like intro over a pedal and big hits during the melody (like that one classic jazz rhythmic cadence in the 5th/6th bar of the bridge). I also imitated walking bass during the bridge for a second, dampening each note with the pedal down to get the legato sound. There is also of course a shout chorus after my solo.

Here's a video I made with my buddy down in Chiapas, Mexico. When you enter his town there is a huge (I mean huge) sculpture of a marimba. The cool thing is I think it's made out of metal. Touche! We win!

On Marimba is Alexander Cruz a great Marimba and Vibes player!