The Mechanical Workings of The Marimba

This blog is based on a music project i recently completed. It's basically abouth the Mechanical Workings of The Marimba.

The way a marimba works is by hitting the wooden bar with a mallet, which makes the sound travel through the pipes which are directly below the marimba. These pipes make the sound resonate. The different sized wooden bars and tubes make the different pitches and sounds. This is a basic way of understanding how a marimba works. Let's add more detail.

What do you call the hammers or sticks you play the marimba with and why are the heads different colurs?                                                            

They are called mallets of course. Mallets are always different colours because it helps to distinguish the varying hardness. Softer mallets in general are usually used for lower notes on the marimba (bass) and harder mallets are usually suitable to use for higher notes (piccolo). Depending on how much force you put in hitting the bars with the mallets affect how Forte or Piano you want your sound to be.

But what makes the actual sound? 

The marimba is typically either made out of wood or synthetic material, rosewood which is the most used. The bars are much wider and longer at the lowest pitched notes and gradually get narrower and shorter as the notes get higher. Marimba bars make their fullest sound when they are stuck just off centre, whereas hitting the bar at the centre produces a more articulated note. On chromatic marimbas the sharps and flats can be played on the space between the front edge of the bars as well as on its node (the place where the string goes through the bar). This creates a very weak tone which is only used when the player/composer is looking for a muted sound from the marimba. The hitting of these bars with the mallet creates the bars to vigourously vibrate. So now we know that the vibration of the bars emit sound.

What about Resonators?

Resonators are parts of the marimba which help it to produce somewhat of a rich sound. These are metal tubes (made of aluminium) that hang underneath each bar. The lengths of the resonators differ when it comes to the sound that the bar produces. Vibrations from the bars resonate as they pass through the tubes. This helps to increase the tone in the same way a guitar or cello works. The marimba bars are placed on a stand which usually has two legs holding it upright stably. Therefore you could say that the marimba has a head (mallets), body (bars) and legs (resonators and legs).

 

By: Deborah Mushwana on February 21st 2012 01:18 [0 comments]

My World.

Part 1

I'm a 14 year old teenage girl, but I have no clue as to who i really am. I was laying on my bed closest to my bedroom window. I watched my dream catcher, which hung from my roof, blow around with the cool breeze. I observed the butterflies that formed part of my dream catcher twirl, making weird obscure circles. As i looked down to my toes, my eyes closed as I felt the warm embrace of the midsummer sun Clouting me from my face to my thighs. I was trying to unwind because I had a hectic day at school. Suddenly, a gentle knock was heard at my door. The door opened slowly. It was my older brother. I completeley loved getting visits from him. He was a complete rebel and he did things that i would never undertake in,well, atleast I would think so. He sat next to me on my bed, he looked frustrated and bleak. He looked at me, then, I knew something was wrong. Unexpectedly he started sobbing. I wanted to comfort him, but i had no knowledge as to how to comfort a male. I finally decided to cut my crap and I just put my arms around him. He looked at me again and started sobbing. I was trying to figure out what could be the matter, was it me, was it my face, maybe he found out about Charley and I. I just didn't know anymore. I decided to ask him what the matter was. He said sadly that it would be better off for me not to know and that he needed some more time to just take it in. I wanted to show him that i understood him. That i really actually cared, so I wraped my arms securely around him, i knew he needed someone to comfort him, someone who would tell him that everything was gong to be alright. My brother stood up and walked out my room. I was worried about him. There goes the my idea of unwinding. What could of been so ghastly that it would make a 17 year old adolescent have a complete breakdown.  I thought about him the whole night until i eventually fell asleep.


By: Deborah Mushwana on October 25th 2011 05:03 [1 comment]