Analysis of the Results
My research was focused on the different four-mallet grips and what the role of teacher upon deciding on the right grip for students is. In order to do that, I released a survey to find out what other players and teachers do. The response of people worldwide was impressive and a total of 178 responses were collected. Below you can find an analysis of the findings. Please use the buttons if you want to move in a different page and explore specific areas of the results.
Percussion instruments are undoubtedly dominated by male performers and educators around the world. For instance, it is significant that only three out of 114 male award winners of the Hall of Fame by The Percussive Arts Society-the biggest organization in percussion field that was established in 1972, are women. The only women who were recognized for their contribution in the percussion playing, up to date (spring, 2016), are Keiko Abe (1993), Vida Chenoweth (1994) and Evelyn Glennie (2008).[1]
My survey was available online and it was advertised on places that both male and female percussionists had access. The numbers shows that only 25.8% of the participants were women, in contrast to the high number of 74.2% male participants. An other recent example of this is that the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance percussion department in London; only 30% of students are women. Therefore, the theory of percussion being a male dominant instrument can be proved but as Layne Redmond said in her book, When the Drummers Were Women: “In Modern times, drummers have been almost exclusively men, but more and more women are rediscovering their ancient birth right.”[2]
The first chart shows the gender percentage of the participants and the second analyses the ages of the female participants. I believe that some years ago the figures would be very different and I hope that numbers will rise in the future. In the chart below you can see the differences between the two genders regarding their age groups. Female participants under 18 are almost twice as much as male and the opposite phenomenon occurs in the last age group(above 45 years old).
[1] [Unsigned], ‘Percussive Arts Society: Hall of Fame’, <http://www.pas.org/About/the-society/halloffame.aspx> (accessed 2 May 2016).
[2] Layne Redmond, When the Drummers Were Women (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1997), 1.
A controversial subject on teaching percussion is about the right age to start learning four mallets. As Nancy Zelman says in her book[3], many colleges, universities and conservatories do not recognize marimba as a separate area of study from percussion, thus the bachelor programmes for solo marimba are limited. Is percussion the only route to the marimba and four mallet playing ? What is the role of high school? Do teachers train marimbists that they will then have to become percussionists in order to enter a college or university? This is a subject that needs to be addressed and hopefully become researched in depth in the future. Here is the age that the participants were first introduced to four-mallet playing. As we can see, a very high percentage of people have started playing four-mallets during high school. The most popular age is 14 with the percentage at 22 per cent.
[3] Nancy Zeltsman, Four-Mallet Marimba Playing: A Musical Approach to All Levels (Milwaukee, 2003), v.
In the question of how did you first hear about four-mallet playing, the overwhelming majority of the participants said that their teacher introduced them to the world of four-mallets playing. The findings listed as ‘Other’ are very interesting as replies show the influence of other factors in marimba playing. For instance, a very popular reply was marching band or indoor drumline. We could be almost sure that those replies came from USA, as those activities are very common there and as we see from the findings of this research, marching bands are very influential on starting to play percussion instruments with four-mallets. Also, admiring someone that plays with four mallets was another popular response, specifically street musicians and bbc young musician. Other participants said that they had to figure out a way to play four mallets as it was required for a concert/gig. So, knowing how to play with four mallets is an essential part in the education of percussion players.
Percussion family is so large that is very often difficult to have all the instruments needed available. Schools, colleges and universities have a limited budget on the number of instruments they can afford and in private teaching, the situation may get even more difficult. However, regardless that limitation, most of the participants first started playing four-mallets on a marimba. Vibraphone is the second common instrument and that response may include jazz players or drummers that they usually have compulsory vibraphone lessons at college. Very few people started their lessons on xylophone or glockenspiel and no one used other instruments as a beginner.
The following graph shows the familiarity of participants on each of the five grips examined. Mainieri grip is not very popular among percussionists and the high percentage on scale one proves the authenticity of this survey. It is worth mentioning that the 24.3 per cent difference between Stevens and Burton grip on the scale of five – extremely familiar. In my opinion numbers on scale three and four should be higher than on scale one and two. That would mean that players were aware of the advantages and disadvantages of each grip, they tried some of them for a while and they made a wide choice of grip for their own benefit.
A very important section on my research was the finding about how and when people change grips. What were they using as beginners and what are they using now as professionals?
The above chart shows a comparison of the first grip that participants’ used as beginners and the four mallet grip that they are currently using. Traditional, Musser and Mainieri grip remain at the same levels with slight changes. Stevens and Burton grip have a considerable rise and at the moment, these are the two dominant four mallet grips.
It is an undeniable fact that teachers have the most significant role on students’ decisions. As a beginner student, you rely on teacher’s decision on how to play and which technique to use. But what is the criteria of choosing a technique for a student and could it be the same for everyone? As you can see on the chart below, almost 60 per cent of the participants agreed that their teacher had a preferred technique for all the pupils. Also, more than half of the people saying that, are aged below 29 years old. That means the new generation of percussionists started playing a grip only because their teachers had a specific preference. However, from the comments of the participants aged over 45, when they first started playing with four-mallets, they had to face other limitations, such as not available teacher or teachers with limited knowledge.
When participants were asked why they decided to change grips the responses were so many and very interesting. Everyone had a personal reason for changing grip and I have tried to categorize some of the comments.
The figures below represent the preferred technique that every player has for each instrument. Interesting enough, almost fifteen per cent said that they do not have a preferred technique for xylophone and glockenspiel, as they probably do not often play with four-mallets on those instruments. Stevens again is leading on marimba and xylophone and Burton on vibraphone. Glockenspiel has around the same percentage of people playing with Stevens and Burton, but having in mind the comments that arise on previous questions about Stevens method and its difficulties on playing small intervals, it is astonishing how many people use this technique on an instrument with very small keys.
Only a very small percentage of the participants have never taught an instrument with four-mallets. In the questions about which technique you can teach and which you cannot teach, participants were able to pick as many techniques as they wanted. An amount of slightly over five per cent of the teachers believe they are able to teach all of the techniques mentioned in the question. However, the percentage of teachers that are able to teach Stevens method is inversely proportional to the teachers that are unable to teach Mainieri grip. This matches the figures of a previously made question about the grips that you know and you are using at the moment. Thus, the findings are validated.
Unexpectedly, more than half of the teachers participating in this survey are teaching the same grip to all of their students. All the comments below were made by the teachers.
This research offers an insight into the current realities of four mallet learning and teaching. By understanding the way we teach and identify possible problematic areas, we can find out how to be better. Below are some comments from the participants about the topic of this research. Please follow the buttons at the bottom if you want to read more about this research.
Some of the teachers said that they do not take into account a beginner student’s opinion when choosing their first four mallet technique whilst others believe that it is very important for a student to choose his or her preferred method. However, a fair amount of people said that every case is different and it depends on the reason they want a grip and how familiar the student is with all the available options. Below you can see some of the comments categorized in three columns; None, some extend and student’s opinion highly important.
