Talk:Marimba/Archive 1

This is an archive of past discussions about Marimba. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Archive 1

Untitled

orchestral xylophone bars, like marimba bars, are almost always made of rosewood; substitutes (paduak, synthetic materials, etc.) have a distinctly inferior sound. -jp2

Mentioning Stevens in this context is just weird. Musser? MP

If it is inappropriate, feel free to modify it. --Infrogmation 06:58, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Moving four-mallet grips to a linked, separate entry seems a good choice; after all, grips are not marimba-specific. jp2 15:05, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I disagree it is perfectly fine to mention the grips in this article but have a linkto another page. When you mention that the bestwaulity can be achieved using 2 to 6 mallet some example of different type of grip to use are fine.

If grips are to be discussed on this page, then links to grip pages should be relevant. The traditional grip page that is linked is applicable to snare but not marimba. --Chasman1964 (talk) 04:25, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Moved information about marimba mallets into the mallets section of drumstick; this way, xylophone, vibraphone, crotales, etc., can all link in. -jp2 00:15, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

There was no information about marimba mallets under mallets section of drumstick. I made marimba mallets section on marimba page. Marimba mallets are very different from drum sticks. -User:Gmoyer 14:15, 21 Oct 2005 (UTC)

Where is Marimba co. listed

Improvement drive

Percussion instrument is currently a candidate on Wikipedia: This week's improvement drive. Vote for this article if you want it to be improved. --Fenice 20:47, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Picture from Gourd Instrument Book

I spoke with the author of the book that the Guatemalan Marimba pictured in the article was taken from and he informed me that it is a doctored picture. The gourd resonators were added in digitally. Guatemalan Marimbas typically have wooden resonators. I would suggest using pictures from Hugh Tracy's book Ngoma or from the CD insert on his recording of Chopi musicians, these pictures are definitely undoctored, as Mr. Tracy was attempting to document the current status of these instruments and their playing technique in Mozambique.

Marimba Tuning

Anyone know why Marimbas are tuned to A = 442 Hz?

Marimbas are tuned to concert A because it is the orcestaral tuning note. Concert A scientifically is 440hz but is often tuned one or two herts up or down depending on region. In north America concert a is tunes to a 440, but where as in Europe it is often tuned to a 442. No rely knows why there is this difference in tuning. Some say its because Europeans like the sharper sound because it is Brighter but it mostly has to do with tradition.Thescot 21:53, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

It also may come from the fact that many commercially available Marimbas (Yamaha, Kori, Korogi, and so on) are made in Japan, where orchestras use A442 Tristan 16:33, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

As far as I know, new Marimbas are tuned to A442 because that tuning note is a growing trend among orchestras, beginning with European orchestras seeking the brighter sound created. This is somewhat in line with a trend throughout history to have a widely varying, though generally increasing, tuning note. Some organs in the 1700s were even tuned as low as A309 or so. You can still get Marimbas tuned to A440, but they generally must be custom ordered from the manufacturer. Zifnab966 01:59, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

As far as I know... They are tuned to 442 because most instruments play sharp as they are played more and more. This is not the case as much with string instruments and much more the case with brass instruments. Just something else to consider. Gpit2286 04:08, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

I want to translate "Marimba" article to spanish, could anybody help me? Im just searching for anykind of button that says "translate to another language". Is there any item like that??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rodrigo Gardea (talk • contribs) 10:19, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Scott Fitzpatrick

I'm here via the date pages - Scott Fitzpatrick had their birth in 1988 listed. I can't find any google hits for '"Scott Fitzpatrick" marimba' apart from this page and its copies. Is there evidence for Scott Fitzpatrick being a marimbist? Pseudomonas 18:27, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Merging

I do not believe that the Balafon article should be merged into this article. Although the two instruments are rather alike in concept, merging them would be similar to merging marimbas into xylophones or vibraphones. Regards, NapoleonB 04:42, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

The two articles should have links to each other, but I see no harm in keeping the Balafon article seperate. -- Infrogmation 15:02, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Agree with NapoleonB and Infrogmation. Keep apart - Bemoeial 14:45, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

I recommend against the September 2006 proposed merger with the glass marimba entry. Marimba already refers to diverse instruments of great cultural importance; confusing the matter with outlier instruments lacking historical context seems unnecessary. I'd even recommend removing the glass marimba article altogether, as the discussion of glass marimba in the crystallophone entry is probably sufficient, given its novelty status. jp2 21:42, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Since Hairy Dude proposed the merger with glass marimba on 19 September 2006, there have been no comments in favor of the merger. Marimbas are not made of glass; crystallaphones are not marimbas for the same reason that vibraphones and xylophones are not marimbas -- they just aren't. jp2 05:04, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

List of marimba performers

Note for those new to Wikipedia, that the section should not be a collection of external links to performers' websites, but rather a list of significant perfomers who are appropriate subjects for encyclopdia articles as Wikipedia expands-- thus the link should be to their name, even if we don't yet have an article on them. Question for more exprienced Wikipedians: Perhaps we should spin off the list into a seperate "List of marimba performers" (or similar title)? Other thoughts? -- Infrogmation 15:02, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Nick Angelis? Jeff Moore?

A list of marima performers would indeed be a good idea. Leigh Howard Stevens? Keiko Abe? I believe they both have pages on wikipedia but are not mentioned in the marimba article.

could a line be also dropped about the work that keiko abe did in designing the shape and the sound of the modern instrument 82.66.8.62

Could Brian Jones be considered a Marimba performer? He played it in "Under My Thumb" and in "Out of Time".

I reckon the list should definitely be limited to musicians/performers who regard the Marimba their main instrument and have been widely known and gained a reputation as marimbists. It would be ludicrous to mention everybody who ever played a few notes on a Marimba on one of their recordings. Just imagine doing the same with "guitarists" or "pianists". Let's keep it relevant! --natz 11:50, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

I am spinning the list off into a seperate List of marimba performers article. -- Infrogmation 00:56, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Origin

who made the marimba..

An anonymous editor added the last question. It originated in southeast Asia, not Africa. Dogru144 (talk) 23:03, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Minor citation issue

In the "The Traditional Instrument" section, subsection "Resonators", someone seems to have put a citation for their information directly into the text instead of at the bottom of the page. The citation seems to be correct and valid, it's just in the wrong place. I'd move it myself, I just don't edit Wikipedia enough to know how to put citations at the bottom of the page and link statements to them. 24.15.197.87 (talk) 07:44, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

kalimba->marimba

In some parts of Africa, the term "marimba" refers to the kalimba

This is not true that the marimba called also kalimba. The kalimba is diffrent instrument there is not relation between marimba and kalimba!

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.107.88.66 (talk) 16:16, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Marimba vs. Marimbaphone

I've often heard the Marimba referred to as "Marimbaphone". Is this really wrong, as the Marimbaphone article leads to believe? -- megA (talk) 22:08, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

Folk marimba with gourds

I'm a little surprised that my 1980 snapshot of a Guatemala highland folk marimba with gourd resonators is still used here. I uploaded it in the early days of Wikipedia because I had it and Wikipedia had nothing better. If anyone can get a better photo of this type of traditional Marimba and share it under a free license, I encourage them to do so. -- Infrogmation (talk) 17:05, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Flapamba

Shouldn't the Flapamba section go to its own article, as being written about a different instrument than marimba? 178.48.17.41 (talk) 08:14, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

Actually, the contents were merged after AfD, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Flapamba, which is related with a series of obscure instruments produced by Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Viscount Bells. The instrument has a grand total of 85 Google hits. It was used in a few songs, chiefly by Emil Richards but is probably only worth a mention in this article, not a separate section. No such user (talk) 10:32, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

To begin with I would recommend deleting the entire part about Emil Richards and where he bought his first Flamampa, which I think is trivia irrelevant to the main topic. Also, perhaps retitle the section from "Flamapa" to "Related instruments" or something like that, so it can include other marimba-like instruments as well. --Danmuz (talk) 11:48, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

The incredible disappearing Zimbabwean marimba

So, I was organizing the List of idiophones by Hornbostel–Sachs number, and discovered that the link for "Zimbabwean marimba" (Marimba#Zimbabwean) had gone dead. Apparently, information about it existed in this article up until May 28, 2011, when User:Redheylin removed it (and other African marimbas that used to be here) to the Xylophone article instead. Currently, the only remains of the former section are a few sentences in Xylophone#Use_in_elementary_education, where it is emphasized that the Zimbabwean marimba is used in Western elementary school education.

Wikipedia, are you kidding me?! This is almost a textbook case of first-world bias, gradually reducing the visibility of other cultures until all that's left is mentioning them as an appendage to something used in Western school education.

Now, I'm no expert on the Zimbabwean marimba at all, and wouldn't know where to start on improving matters, but this whole thing seems a bit ridiculous... Esn (talk) 06:59, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

Fulcrum grip, is this a notable Marimba thing?

This new article purports to describe a new way of holding marimba mallets. Could somebody more familiar with this subject review the article? --Salimfadhley (talk) 12:09, 30 July 2017 (UTC)

Shona or Swahili?

The text identifies the '-imba" root to be the Shona language and references a Swahili-English dictionary in footnote 4 as support. The subsequent sentences and geographic reference appear to be related to Swahili. "Kuimba" is "to sing" in Swahili. Can this be clarified in the text? Is there a relationship between the word in Swahili and a similar word in Shona? Is there other evidence that the name of the instrument is derived from one of the East African languages besides the fact that the name seems to make sense? Is the connection hypothetical or traced? In the absence of another hypothesis, I'm happy enough with a supposition, as long as it is clearly presented as such.

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Electronic marimba

A section should be added on the electronic version of the marimba. — Lentower (talk) 01:35, 21 May 2019 (UTC)