PASIC 2006 VIBRAPHONE CLINIC

Technical Issues 

grip with fulcrum and finger control, downstrokes/upstrokes, one and two hand dampening techniques, deadstrokes, pedaling, four mallet utilization (scales/arpeggios, solo playing, lines), experimentation with various playing areas of bar, sticking concepts

Approach

Consistent use of four mallets with a variety of techniques, using the whole range, pianistic approach, orchestration and arranging, playing classical pieces (piano, guitar, violin), listen to and watch classical and jazz pianists

General Considerations

pedal the melody versus the accompaniment, embellish melody, right hand helps the left and vice versa, use of space, focus on not only the note attack (but cutoff as well), not everything should be played long (avoid too much ringing, experiment with use of deadstrokes for clarity, variety of articulation and separations of parts), variety (short/long notes, ghost notes/accented notes, piano/forte, diminuendo/crescendo…), layered dynamics (melody louder than accompaniment), wide dynamic range (dynamically shape the phrase), nuance, varied articulation, rich harmony, good time feel, mallet spread should change, avoid pulling back mallet 2, left hand should always be moving, practice hands separately, left hand should be on automatic

Solo Vibraphone Techniques 

left hand accompaniment techniques:

left hand guide tones (3 note voicings), stacking with left hand voicings, stride, left hand “jabs”, “Freddie Green/Errol Garner” style, 10ths, one note constant while the other voice moves, chromatic and diatonic approach,

dual function left hand, bass/guide tone lines in left hand, double stops with passing notes, breaking up the 8^th notes, 2 and 3 lines, doubles stops in the right hand, one hand grace notes, playing outside voices and then filling in the middle with a voicing, counterpoint (chord tone to chord tone with passing notes, tension resolution), lines outlining voicings, dampening every other note in scale, melody or solo with the left and comping with the right, techniques for various styles (swing, ballads, latin, brazilian, blues, ¾ swing, rock ), jazz piano techniques and approaches (Waller, Tatum, Wilson, Evans, Tyner, Hancock, Corea, Jarrett, Mehldau), use of classical pianistic techniques (all periods), approaching solo playing via voicings and comping techniques (use of latin patterns, stacking, pentatonic voicings, upper structure triads, clusters, inner moving voices, line clichés, reharmonization, inner passing lines through harmony, texture playing, constant structure, intervallic voicings, …)

Summary

Areas to work on would include the study of jazz harmony & theory, reharmonization, improvisation, sound development, adaptation of pianistic techniques, learning repertoire, playing classical pieces, reading jazz piano transcriptions and adapting to vibraphone