I am a musician. Sometimes I think of myself as a thinker, sometimes a perfectionist. Every day when I’m holding my mallets in front of the instrument, I ask myself how to express the music and effectively communicate with the audience through my marimba music.
Expressing musical language, I would say, is not easy. Besides technique, I spend a lot of time thinking about several things: body movement, visual aspect, sonority, lyrical approach and stage behaviour. Today, I would love to share my thoughts about body movement and marimba playing.
- “Body movement” is an important key in expressing emotions, musical thoughts and ideas.The physical movements of your body can bring to life the interpretation of the music and your body gestures can shape the musical expression and direction. Articulation, phrasing and dynamic changes also are supported and enriched through correct body movement.
- Do you know how big a 5 Octave marimba is? It is HUGE!!! We all know the marimba has a wide range, and to avoid hitting the wrong notes requires efficient movement. It is important to use proper hand and arm motions to reach full sonority, as well as to improve accuracy and fluency across the entire range.
- To achieve the best control and rich sonority of the marimba, correct movement can help execute different techniques with precision, for example, your mallet strokes (full strokes, tap strokes, down strokes, up strokes, delayed up and down strokes e.g.), rolls, chords.
- The sound of the marimba is stunning and rich in resonance. Correct and skillful movement helps you produce a full, rich tone. Also understanding the marimba’s natural acoustics and utilizing mature mallet technique and correct movement helps to produce full and resonant sound at the same maintaining projection and clarity.
Before a performance, I always ask myself to move with reason and purpose in order to express the musical direction clearly to my audience and to play an unforgettable concert for everyone’s enjoyment. This is my goal.
I look forward to sharing my marimba insights with you in my next posting.
See you again soon!
Ernestina
