vibrafon for drummers

Well, in an orchestra someone back there has to.

You'll also learn to read pitches, not just rhythms.

You'll have more sounds for any situation really. Melodic percussion is everywhere.

Offcouse it is an instrument in itself with some great perfomers. e.g. in jazz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24loYd_xp7c


You'll be more informed, educated, hireable......................
 
Google or YouTube Lionel Hampton. A great drummer and vibes player.
 
Anything to make you more musically inclined is going to help. In college I finally started to study piano and dabbled in vibraphone. I wasn't great at it, but I did understand what was going on musically more than if I hadn't. I was even able to make up lead sheets/charts when I had my own band for cover tunes - I'd make up charts for Motown classics, etc.,...it made me more than just a drummer.

You don't necessarily have to play vibraphone (or any mallet instrument) to learn, piano will do just fine if you want to get the music basics down. You should check out Evelyn Glennie as well, she's completely deaf and is a master percussionist. She plays bare-footed so she can feel the vibrations through her feet!
 
I played tympani back through all of high school and most of college. I dabbled in xylophone and marimba back in college but because I was not a music major, I had to focus my time and energy elsewhere. 10+ years later and I can tell you that I would be totally lost trying to play a xylophone or marimba. Tympani would maybe come back a bit, but reading notes (in bass clef no less) would be something that would take a really long time. Do I feel that I'm a better drummer for having played these instruments? No. If I could have taken all the time and energy I spent learning how to play Tympani and Xylophone and instead put that in to learning more rudiments, limb independence, odd time structure, DYNAMICS, musical styles, etc. then I would be a better drummer. The problem is that most music programs do not think the drum set is an instrument. They think its just a noise maker and should be relegated to only playing jazz music. Well, lets face it, jazz music is pretty much dead. So the drum set is not an instrument that anyone can say is their focus of study. Instead most drummers get relegated in to being a "percussionist" so your focus gets blurred and you never end up being very good at one thing until you get out of college and you can finally focus on the instrument you wanted to focus on in the first place.

How many French horn players do you see being pulled off their instrument to play the trumpet, tuba, sousaphone, or a trombone? How many oboe or clarinet players do you see being pulled off their instrument to play a saxophone? It doesn't happen. As a drummer, you are considered to be someone who "hit things with a stick", so I guess that means you are required to learn how to play every percussion instrument under the sun.
 
Last edited:
"How many French horn players do you see being pulled off their instrument to play the trumpet, tuba, sousaphone, or a trombone? How many oboe or clarinet players do you see being pulled off their instrument to play a saxophone?"

Actually, reed players in Broadway musicals are expected to play three or four different instruments. Piano players often play harpsichord, synthesizer, organ. Brass band players often move around the band as required. Guitarists might play bass, or uke or banjo. So we're not alone.
 
Actually, as a saxophone player you are both professionally as a musician and teacher expected to be a general woodwind player.

If you teach brass you will quite often be the only brass teacher at the school, so.......
 
When I was a teenager I could play both drums and vibes/xylo, and I regret not keeping it up.

It's useful if you'd like to play a melodic instrument, or if you like to be able to compose. Will it help your kit drumming? Not directly, but I think indirectly the more instruments you add to your vocabulary, the more perspective you'll have when playing the drums.

Learning vibes/xylo (or piano is a good percussion instrument as well), will also help you understand music theory, along with harmonic and melodic principles, which will greatly improve your ability to interact with other players musically. One of the biggest things holding drummers back is that they have very little music theory knowledge and they don't understand how percussion can/should interact with various sounds, colors, and textures.
 
Thank you all.
I used to play in symphonic orchestra, I studied vibraphone, xylophone, etc. as well as piano and latin percussion, so I understand it benefits. The thing is there are long discussion on russian drummer forum on this topic. In russian musical colleges you have to study vibraphone in addition to drum set (if this jazz/pop department) and a lot of students disagree with this.
So I'd like to find out how things stand with this in US.
Thank you again
 
In russian musical colleges you have to study vibraphone in addition to drum set (if this jazz/pop department) and a lot of students disagree with this.

This is similar to the US (and probably everywhere), where percussion players need to learn piano, vibes, or any other melodic instrument. This is especially helpful when learning theory, ear training, improv, and arranging. When I was in school I had to double on piano, and it really helped me overall.
 
How many French horn players do you see being pulled off their instrument to play the trumpet, tuba, sousaphone, or a trombone? How many oboe or clarinet players do you see being pulled off their instrument to play a saxophone? It doesn't happen. As a drummer, you are considered to be someone who "hit things with a stick", so I guess that means you are required to learn how to play every percussion instrument under the sun.

Personally, I relish being able to play multiple odd instruments. I even got a part because I could play conch(pretty close to the horn), for an introduction. Those, musicians that are so fixated on that one instrument they play are really annoying, whether they are horns, clarinets, duck calls, or you know drums.
 
In russian musical colleges you have to study vibraphone in addition to drum set (if this jazz/pop department) and a lot of students disagree with this.
So I'd like to find out how things stand with this in US.
Thank you again

In Sweden we usually get to try out and learn vibra, marimba and xylophon as part of your percussion studies (together with timpani, snare, BD, piatti and all other stuff that is good to know). Usually most kids like to focus on the drum kit, but as you grow you learn to appreciate the other instruments as well.

I really miss the vibra from my time in school. The timpani not so much...
 
Back
Top