Contemporary Vibraphone Technique, Bk. 1-2

Dave Samuels

General Info

Year: 1992
Edition: 1st Edition
Publisher: CPP/Belwin Inc.
Cost: Book Cost - $17.95   |   Supplemental Books - $0.00

Chapters

Chapter I:
Chapter II:
Chapter III:
Chapter IV:
Chapter V:
Chapter VI:

Reviews

Student Reviews

Organization: In Book 1, the table of contents is sorted by an Introduction and four sections: Section I – Holding Four Mallets, Section II – Sticking and Pedaling, Section III – Dampening, and Section IV – ‘Ghosting’ Notes. Book 2 is organized in a similar way, with a Preface and a final Section V – Chord Scales which spans the entire length of the second book. Each book comes with a CD which includes recordings of several exercises labelled in the book with which the reader can play along.

Content: Section I covers opening and closing the mallets, striking the instrument, and holding four mallets while playing a single line. Section II involves double sticking, using the pedal, and after-pedaling. Section III goes into detail about mallet, scalar, hand, and slide dampening as well as combining dampening techniques. Section IV is a brief two pages covering dead strokes while Section V is an entire book covering many aspects of scales, such as practicing them, scale shapes, scales in all modes including pentatonic scales, and practicing chord scales.

Uses: Due to the extensive range of vibraphone knowledge these books cover, I would say Book 1 can be used for fresh beginners up to college students as the information is simple to understand, has illustrations, and provides examples of issues the reader may run into. The more advanced sections, covering dampening and scales especially, may be suited better for advanced high school students or college students of all levels. I would only use these books together with a college student, no younger than that.

Rating: With the breadth of technique and scalar repertoire these books provide, it is hard to imagine these books not being used by instructors at all levels, although I am not sure what a professional percussionist may gain from studying these books if they already have a deep understanding of vibraphone playing. The author claims these books do not require any previous experience on mallet playing but do require some theory and chord knowledge which is expected to be sourced from other books despite Book 2 covering chords in all modes. Regardless of which book is used, I feel these books are a great resource for instructors to own and for students to be given pages out of. 5/5. User:Hondogracias

Works for Percussion by this Author

Samuels, Dave. Contemporary Vibraphone Technique, Bk. 1-2. CPP / Belwin, Inc., 1992.