Tuned Books
50 Short Pieces for Tuned Percussion
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Play Percussion : 50 Short Pieces for Tuned Percussion - Keith Bartlett This book provides 50 short studies for tuned percussion. These start of very basic, and then gradually get harder as the book goes on. This is a much gentler learning curve than the grade books, and is the perfect companion to the 50 lessons of technical exercises in the Instruction Course for Xylophone above.
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Instruction Course for Xylophone
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Instruction Course for Xylophone - George Hamilton Green This book is fantastic. It is a set of 50 lessons, each three pages long, for building up a solid two mallet technique. Each lesson contains a couple of pages of exercises, complete with directions on how to rehearse them, and then ends with some Ragtime exercises building on the other exercises in the lesson. Thoroughly recommended.
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Modern School for Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone
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Modern School for Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone - Morris Goldenberg This starts of quite difficult, as the first pages of exercises contains semibreve rolls on various notes. It then goes through all the keys presenting scales and a short melody in each. The middle of the book is made up of exercises that then give way to a section containing 39 etudes. The book the ends with transcriptions and excerpts of popular classical pieces.
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Tuned Grade Books
Associated Board Tuned Percussion Grade Books
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ABRSM Book I : Grade 1 and 2 Includes sight reading examples, new pieces and popular melodies both classical and traditional for both Grade 1 and 2. These pieces don't include any chords or rolls.
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ABRSM Book II : Grade 3 and 4 Includes sight reading examples, new pieces and popular melodies both classical and traditional for both Grade 3 and 4. These pieces include the occasional roll and chord.
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ABRSM Book III : Grade 5 and 6 Includes sight reading examples, new pieces and popular melodies both classical and traditional for both Grade 5 and 6. There are extensive two mallet chords and rolls required in these pieces.
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ABRSM Book IV : Grade 7 and 8 Includes sight reading examples, new pieces and popular melodies both classical and traditional for both Grade 7 and 8. Difficult. There is also a four mallet arrangement of Pizzicato Polka
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London College Tuned Percussion Grade Books
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London College of Music and Media : Grade 1 and 2 These books are more detailed than the Associated Board ones, and cover required scales, pieces and aural tests. The pieces are all new compositions by David Hext, and they are labelled as to which instruments they should be played on (for example, "glockenspiel or xylophone"). Grade 1 requires two note chords to be played, rolls are introduced in grade 2.
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London College of Music and Media : Grade 3 and 4 These books are more detailed than the Associated Board ones, and cover required scales, pieces and aural tests. The pieces are all new compositions by David Hext, and they are labelled as to which instruments they should be played on (for example, "glockenspiel or xylophone"). Grade 3 required three node chords, grade four has four note chords and rolls.
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Four Mallet Tuned
Four Mallet Independence for Marimba
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Four Mallet Independence for Marimba - Johnny Lee Lane, Samuel A Floyd Jr This book starts with a picture laden section covering the different ways of holding two mallets in each hand. It then goes on to present some progressive exercises that build up four mallet technique. The middle of the book features two different versions of The Entertainer, scored for four mallets. The first is easier than the second! The rest of the book is mainly made up of extracts from classical pieces along with further exercises to build technique.
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Four-Mallet Marimba Playing
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Four Mallet Marimba Playing - Nancy Zeltsman Section one of this book contains the most text I have ever seen in a percussion tutor book, and that is by no means a negative comment. There is 25 pages of detailed information from a master of four mallet marimba. Section two contains 50 short four-mallet studies. Some of these are in complex keys (six flats?) and varying time signatures (The first is in 5/4). Section three is "refinements" and is again very wordy. Section four contains eighteen intermediate-to-advanced solos, some of which require a five octave marimba. Section five ends the book with advanced solos and chamber music. These are accompanied by often detailed performance advice.
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Method of Movement for Marimba
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Method of Movement for Marimba Method of Movement for Marimba - Leigh Howard Stevens
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Percussion
Authentic Bongo Rhythms
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Authentic Bongo Rhythms - Bob Evans This book starts with some basic music notation explanations and then has an introduction to how to play the bongos, and what to do on each stroke of the basic rhythm. Rather strangely, the photographs used are from the observers point of view not the players, so anyone using this as a tutorial will need to mentally flip the pictures around or invest in a mirror to watch themselves play. The rest of the book is taken up with explanations and notation for many standard bongo rhythms. These include joropo, paso doble, tango, samba, beguine, baion, guajira, conga, calypso, afro-cuban, afro 6/8, nanigo, guaracha, rumba, cuban bolero, bolero-rumba, spanish bolero, merengue, mambo (single and double), cha cha, son and montuno. This is a pretty extensive list, and is very useful for those interested in how these authentic rhythms should be played.
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Progressive Steps to Bongo and Conga Drum Technique
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Progressive Steps to Bongo and Conga Drum Technique - Ted Reed This book has a good introduction to playing the basic bongo rhythm, with descriptions and photographs of what to do on each of the eight beats. The rest of the book is then taken up of variations and fills based around this standard rhythm. The last four pages of the book provide an introduction to playing a single conga, and the various techniques and strokes required. Again there are photos and then variations on the basic rhythm.
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Maintenance
Drum Tuning
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Drum Tuning, The Ultimate Guide - Scott Schroedl This book covers all aspects of tuning the different drums in the drum kit. It starts off covering toms and then moves onto snare drum and then bass drum before providing some tips on how to tune the drum kit as a whole instrument. The book also comes with a CD containing samples of how different drums sound when tuned different ways. The tracks on the CD are referenced throughout the book.
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