Percussion · Keyboard percussion
Marimba
Large rosewood bars over long tuned resonators, played with soft yarn mallets. Warm and resonant, deeper and darker than the xylophone.
- Section
- Percussion
- Family
- Keyboard percussion
- Classification
- Idiophone · struck bars
- Transposition
- None (concert pitch)
- Clefs
- Grand staff (treble and bass)
- Sounding range
- A2 – C7
Parts of the marimba
A five-octave concert marimba. Photo: Marimba (Wikimedia user), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Labels added by Musicians Tools.
Range
C1C2C3C4C5C6C7C8
Sounds as written. Playback uses a neutral tone, not the instrument's own sound.
Writing for the marimba
- Written on a grand staff at concert pitch.
- Sustained notes are rolled; with four mallets a player can play chords.
- The low register is soft and dark; avoid covering it with heavy orchestration.
- Rubber or hard mallets give a brighter, more xylophone-like attack.
History
The marimba descends from African instruments and from the marimbas of Guatemala and Mexico. The modern concert marimba was developed in the United States in the 20th century and has become a major solo instrument.
Listen
Key works featuring the marimba. Each link opens a YouTube search, so you can pick the recording you like.
Useful tools
Keyboard percussion
Also in the family (pages coming):Crotales
Ancestors:African and Central American marimbas