Warmup
Worked Alexander Technique with two-mallets at marimba; scale, arpeggio, and interval exercises;free and chordal improvisation – I actually improvised on/with the apple tree outside the window of my practice room. 😉 During each exercise, I am reciting: breath, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck – trying to develop awareness on notes in addition to multiple body parts simultaneously. I am also imagining my mallets as paint brushes moving through the energy space in front of me, and over the instrument.
Rip Tide
Working with medium hard Mike Balter mallets today – I will need to use at least this hardness to get articulation out of the cymbals that are mounted around the marimba. With these mallets, I definitely need to start practicing with ear plugs.
Pages 3-5 – hands separate (focus on AT concepts above) at 140bpm; hands together at 100bpm
Pages 6-9 – hands separate at 140bpm; hands together at 105bpm
Pages 9-end – hands separate at 140bpm; hands together at 105bpm
Ran all – hands together at 105bpm (about 80% accuracy at this tempo, and tension not too present, though still there)
*Need to continue working problem spots, but with more focus on the transitions into them.
Surface Drifts
Warmup – SA, SI, DV exercises (focus on AT concepts above)
Read through everything (tried to play lightly, did notice tension throughout at various points)
