Beginner's viewpoint
- Rating
- Posted by
- Ralph Becker-Szendy
- Date Posted
- 02/21/2015
I'm a beginner in orchestral percussion. Our band's chimes came with ancient translucent yellow mallets, very beat up and soft on the striking face, and one handle was loose. Very hard to get good volume (in particular if you have to hold the head against flying off), and our conductor complained that the chimes were too quiet. My teacher recommended these Grover mallets. I like them, and the conductor and the rest of the band seem to like them. With their heft, I can do massive loud strikes if needed, the kind where everyone in the room looks at the percussion section and smiles. Yet they are easy to control, and with the soft (rubber-covered) face I can do gentle tones as nearly inaudible background on lightly scored passages. As the face isn't super-hard, they have more sustain than attack, which IMHO suits tubular bells better in most music. The non-round handle makes it easy to feel that you have them in your hand oriented correctly; I think I'll add some grip tape on one side, so I can feel whether I'm playing the soft or hard side. Don't know yet how long they'll survive, before the striking surface is too scored and beat up to sound good; with the light use of an amateur concert band, probably a long time.