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The ZEBRA is a name given the unit by a young student. More explanation on this later. The "ZEBRA" (Marimba) is for the "student"
that needs a way to practice the use of 4 mallets with realistic action and movement.
The
Texas All State mallet portion of the audition has come from the Masterpieces for Marimba for many years now and this model
covers the range needed to perform all these exercises.
Bar size
is important for many reasons.
1. The muscle movement across lateral
distance 2. The feel of the bar is changed with the width, more material in the bar equals more vibration 3.
The way a bar vibrates and dispenses vibration energy, in other words, how loud it is
So,
to this end, The original ZEBRA had a range of 4 octaves, "C" mid F clef to "C" 5 ledger lines above G clef staff.
The new one is a full 4.3 octaves.
The bar size is based upon the most popular instruments setting
on school campuses.
lowest 2 octaves are 2"
next octave is 1 6/8" (thats 1 3/4") and last octave is 1 5/8".
The frame splits apart and easily packs into the size of a suitcase capable of fitting in the average trunk, no need
for a pickup or SUV and a few friends to carry it. A custom case is being engineered presently for flight use.
Think of it. You want to just practice 4 mallet tech? Use the lower 2 octaves C
- C setup with the modified frame ends and take up less space in your room. Want to practice basic solo material, set it all
up. Have a contest to go play for? Carry, literally, you by yourself carry your instrument and set it up with ease! Want to
go practice with a friend? How cool is this?!
The resonators? Using
a patent pending shared resonator chamber the tubes are no longer needed.
This
is a practical instrument to develop the skills needed to be a skilled performer. Just as a pianist does not start with a
$100,000 12 foot grand piano, but rather with a simple upright, nor should a percussionist feel that pinch to do so either.
You start with a simple "practical" instrument to get good at it and you grow into the wonderful grand instruments.
So new photos will be posted soon and details of the unit and pricing posted. Keep
in touch for updates.
Above you see Gabe with his new "ZEBRA"! A 4 octave Marimba with the lower 2 ocatve bars as 2 inches wide! The unit
sounds great! Below you can see him already working on his 4 mallet technique in his house on HIS Marimba!
Since Gabe's was the original prototype you can see the bars have the new stain, they have a rich dark red look, almost
a red merlot wine color and with the gloss finish they look and sound fantastic. This unit was delivered Sat 23 Sep 2006.
I have a new one almost done with some further development in the sound and look for another student.
Is this the same instrument? You betcha! You can't do this with any other manufacturer's Marimba! WOW!
The ruler to the right of the instrument is a 48" level ruler. Want height adjustment? How about 26" to 42"? Start at
the elementary school age and go to any string bean tall person you can imagine, or setup over or under other instruments?
These give you a closeup view of the modification for the split setup. A simple mod that comes with the full 4 octave Zebra.
How cool is this!
Cases extra and school model is more due to additional bars and leg sets with additional end supports.
Call or email me though. Its worth that much effort isnt it? School PO's welcome. It just doesnt get any lower then that on
any manufacturers model that has this size bar or range and portability!
Below you see the low 2 octave box section of the natural bars frame, and then with the bars resting without the
suspension pins. In this register all the bars are 2" wide with a 1/2 spacing between for the suspension system. This puts
the bar centers right about where the larger bars set and without the bars wiggling between the pins, which is a real pain
on the cheaper units available on the market today. Remember, each of these units is hand made by Walter in San Antonio Texas.
Here you can see how the bar cord "floats" on the rubber. This allows the bar to vibrate its longest duration capacity.
This system keeps the bars vibration from "grounding" out into the frame, the rubber acts as an isolation system. This is
not a new idea, hardly so. It is a new use of it though. Leedy, Premier, Kori to name a few have utilized different attempts
at this. But the real snag comes when the rubber is "attached" to the metal pin. It then grounds the rubber to the pin and
the frame, where my design allows the rubber to act as a seperate item merely held in place by the metal pin. I owe Arnie
Lang for this because he said I had to find a way to isolate the bar from frame noise in my Xylophone design. As is often
the case, I went hunting and fell on to this idea. So often I think there is no way, how do I do this, but I keep looking
and BAM, the idea manifest itself. THANKS ARNIE!
Above you can see the layout relative to normal mallets. You can also see the support suspension system. While
these are instruments for students of all ages, they still get individual attention. They are made by a professional for students
with professionals in mind.
These designs keep the 4 people engaged, the student, the designer/ manufacturer, the professional, and lets not forget the
wallet!
QUESTION? I ask myself, would and could I use this? Would this instrument make me want to practice? Would I enjoy and grow
from time spent on this instrument?
YES!
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