Marimba

by Abigail Richards

This past week, the Laurel band program purchased a new instrument called the marimba. A marimba is a malloy percussion instrument. What makes the marimba special are it’s bars made out of wood and upon striking its piano-like keys on top of the instrument, it creates a warm resonant sound. The largest major difference between the marimba and its similar relative the xylophone are that the marimba produces a soft tone while the xylophone produces a harder tone. 

Mr. S. Boyer mentioned the reason for purchasing the instrument was not just for fun, but that it was for an introduction to a new learning path. The PMEA Festival, Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, uses marimba’s as a part of their learning curriculum and so, Mr. Boyer and the Band Boosters decided that it was a necessity to give the band students an opportunity to learn the marimba along with all the other PMEA students and that the marimba will add an element of musicality and a new timbre to ensembles.

Boyer stated that he has plenty of plans for the marimba moving forward into the concert and jazz band seasons and he would like to give a special thank you to the Laurel Band Boosters for purchasing the instrument and he also mentioned that they have been extremely helpful with not just matching band, but the music program and the art as a whole.

watch the marimba here!