Dampening Drills by Jerry Tachoir
Teach students early that a vibraphone is not just a marimba with a pedal
Because most mallet players were brought up through the ranks as drummers who were turned on to the timpani and later xylophone or marimba, a question seems to linger: "What the heck is that pedal for on a vibraphone?" One of my earlier teachers told me, "Don't worry; it's something you won't need to deal with now. Just play the same as you do on your marimba." So for the longest time, I either ignored the pedal or used it to keep time with my foot.
It was obvious to me that the pedal dampened the notes. However, it didn't seem right to use the pedal after every note a quarter note or longer, and I wasn't getting the clarity or phrasing of lines the way a horn player could. I discovered, rather by accident, that my hand could be used to dampen notes by going from one register to another to create a softer phrasing and almost a slide into a half-step. At that point I understood that this wasn't the same instrument as a marimba.
On the vibraphone, I didn't have to roll to produce a sustained tone. I could add other notes to already sustained notes to produce harmonies. I could remove (dampen) notes as they rang to change harmonies.
Come on, percussion teachers of the world. This is a vibraphone, not a marimba with a pedal! The dampening techniques can be narrowed down to five types:
Slide dampening
This technique is used primarily in scale-type passages. A mallet in the hand that is not playing the note merely follows the playing mallet, dampening as the scale passage is executed. The object is to dampen a note at the same time that the next note is attacked to make a smooth line and not hear the dampening taking place.
Touch tone
This dampening technique is primarily for intervals. The object is to dampen a note by depressing the mallet head against the ringing note at the same time a note is played by the opposite hand. Try to dampen as smoothly and quietly as possible. All four mallets should be able to perform this technique. To eliminate excess hand motion, try assigning a specific area for each mallet. Make sure to dampen completely and go for center bars. Don't be discouraged; it takes coordination and practice.
Adjacent-note mallet dampening
This is a fairly easy technique that again should be practiced by all four mallets.
This technique is for adjacent notes of either a step or a half-step. The mallet that played
the first note will play the next adjacent note and, at the same time, slide to the previous note that is ringing and dampen it. The object is to dampen the first note at the same time the second is attacked in one smooth motion, without hearing the dampening attack.
Hand dampening
This technique is used primarily in dampening notes from the bottom register (white notes on piano) up or down a half-step to the top register (black notes on piano) with the area between the first and second knuckle of the pinky finger of the same hand. I mainly use this method with the right hand, but it can be done with the left hand as well. As the right hand is going from a D to a D-flat, the dampening is done by the right-hand pinky at the same time the D flat is played. Again, try for a smooth execution and a complete dampening of the first note. (Ringing half-steps sound bad.)
Pedaling
The most obvious use of the pedal is to sustain tones. However, in combination with the dampening techniques above, its most vital usage will be to clear the harmony in preparation for a new chord sound. While playing a tune, the pedal will be depressed for each chord, provided your other dampening techniques are producing clarity in the melody without ringing together.
Should the melody be very fast, a half-pedaling or flutter-pedal technique might be necessary to execute the line without a total staccato effect. Flutter pedaling is accomplished by finding the point where the damper bar just clears the keys, which should be about half-pedal, and alternating up and down for the fast notes. This technique provides a somewhat smoother, more legato phrasing of fast notes.
Jerry Tachoir is a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, a Musser vibraphone/marimba clinician, and an internationally acclaimed jazz artist.
