problems with tremolos on xhylaphone

Z

ZveX

Junior Member
Hi Drummerworld community! this is my first time being here and i have to ask a question,i'm overall percussionist,i play drums,xylophone,darbuka etc,
i have following problem:I CAN'T PLAY tremolo's on xylophone with relaxed wrists EXCEPTIONALLY when there's tremolo on different notes,i can play doubles on my practice pad with regular 5b american classic sticks fastly with relaxed wrists and EVERYTHING,i can play single and double paradiddle's pretty goodly and single,double,triple ratamacue pretty good but single's and tremolo's ARE MY WEAK POINT,exceptionally when playing with mallets on xylophone where there's NO rebound,please help
Any extra info that would help:i go to music school,and have instructor who is really amazing,i have xylophone in home and i practice,i don't have drum but i have practice pad and i practice a LOT,but i just have this tremolo problem which is holding me back REALLY,i hope YOU guys will help me,thanks
 
The important thing to understand is that a xylophone mallet, or any mallet really, reacts in a very different way from any stick. Sticks have a balance point close to the center, or the hands, while mallets have the vast majority of the mass at the end. Moving your hands up on the mallet shaft- past the midpoint- is a technique often used by players to get faster response from the mallet.

Aside from that, try to concentrate the muscle tension (and there will be some) in your shoulders. The last thing to consider is that mallet rolls don't have to be that fast to be perceived as a 'roll'. Just keep practicing, starting slow and increasing, and you should fix this 'weak point'.
 
I'm not a mallet player by any means (although I studied them in college), but it sounds like you just need to woodshed your single stroke rolls in general (since most mallet rolls are done with single strokes). The book Mallet Control by George Lawrence Stone has some pretty thorough exercises to develop rolls, so you might want to check that out. Or you could just practice the short single stroke roll exercises from his book Stick Control--those are excellent for developing single stroke rolls.

I think one of the challenging aspects of playing rolls on a mallet instrument (I'm just talking two mallets here) are connecting the rolls smoothly from one note to another (when they are tied), or being able to play detached rolls (when they are not tied) and ending smoothly (without a notable accent or change in speed) and making a slight break before moving on to the next figure. Stone's mallet book has some technical exercises that address that (although I'm sure there are many other mallet methods that have similar exercises). Also, Morris Goldenberg's Modern School mallet book has plenty of exercises addressing rolls in the beginning, so you might want to check that out as well.

As for the developing of touch, obviously it would be best to just practice on the xylophone, but if you can't, maybe you could practice with mallets on a surface that offers less rebound than a practice pad to approximate the feel of the xylophone. I think in Mallet Control Stone suggests practicing a single stroke roll (open/close/open) on a chair to warm up each day, so maybe that might be a good option.
 
all definitely check that out,but in meantime,i hold my mallets (i'm talking about 1 mallet for each hand,i'm not playing with 4 mallets) in center where's i hold my drumstick at around 1/3 of stick,it looks like i have to practice single strokes with mallets more than sticks even on practice pad,i hope that helps,thanks.
 
No secret, just keep doing it and you'll improve. Rolls/tremolos on xylophone are played as single strokes, so I assume that's what you're having a problem with. To help you relax, you might try slowing down the rate of the roll-- when you can play the music up to tempo that way, then you can look at the quality of your rolls, and see if you need to play them faster. Other keyboard percussion uses a slower rate of roll than xylophone-- keep that in mind if you're just using xylo as your catch-all mallet percussion practice instrument.

Technique-wise, you might find it's helpful to not let the mallet wobble in your grip-- go for a light, even grip with all your fingers; be relaxed, but don't let the mallet flop around in your hand. Then check yourself to see make sure you're really moving your wrists-- like, it has to actually move the mallet into the 'up' position; you can't open your hand up and let the rebound flop the stick into the up position like you can on a practice pad. Experiment with that, maybe.
 
Xylophone tremelo should be done largely with rotation at the elbow. Even though we commonly say "turn your wrist" in English, the wrists cannot turn. This is news to most of my students. If you have the idea (the very common idea) that the wrists do the turning, you will create a lot of extra tension trying to make it so. Allow the forearms to rotate easily. the center of rotation is in between the pinky/ring finger (not the middle finger, or the index finger, as are other common misconceptions)

ABELBOW.GIF
 
Another thing to remember is that tremolos on mallet instruments don't need to be lightning fast to be effective. Composers are generally looking for a sustained note, so if your speed effectively sustains the note, you're set. That means the optimal speed for your rolls will change as you move up the keyboard, where it will require more speed to get the smaller bars to keep vibrating. Other than that, there's some good advice here. Stay relaxed, practice, and you'll get it.
 
Tremelo's (or rolls) on xylo are all about fast single strokes coming purely from the wrist. Finger control is not applicable here since there's basically no rebound on a keyboard, which is why I'm not a fan of moongel pads/practicing on a pillow very much. Some of that from time to time is OK of course for building up the beast-master stroke it out gorilla style chops which do have their place, (usually the floor tom).
 
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