marching vs concert mallets

[littlesnareboy]

Hey everybody,

As we all know, budget cuts are getting pretty bad for public school band programs. Most schools are lucky if they can afford one set of mallets for each instrument, let alone a set of marching and concert mallets for each one. If you could only afford to get one set of mallets for an ensemble would you get concert or marching mallets? I guess what I'm asking is do marching mallets sound better in a concert ball than concert mallets sound out on a football field? Also, if you could only get one set, what they be for marimba, vibes, and xylo/glock? Thanks guys!

[TheIronChicken]

My personal favorite marimba mallets are Vic Firth M183s.

[joe356]

Hey everybody,

As we all know, budget cuts are getting pretty bad for public school band programs. Most schools are lucky if they can afford one set of mallets for each instrument, let alone a set of marching and concert mallets for each one. If you could only afford to get one set of mallets for an ensemble would you get concert or marching mallets? I guess what I'm asking is do marching mallets sound better in a concert ball than concert mallets sound out on a football field? Also, if you could only get one set, what they be for marimba, vibes, and xylo/glock? Thanks guys!

Innovative has a lot of mallet series that sort of live between the lines. The Rarick series comes to mind. They were developed with a marching ensemble in mind, but sound pretty great in multiple settings. Our mallet bags at our high school have just as many "concert" mallets as they do "marching" mallets these days. If I had to choose a set for each instrument that had to be used in both settings, the choices would probably look like this:

Vibes - Anders Astrand AA25
Marimbas - Tom Rarick 3004
Xylophone - Christopher Lamb - CLX6
Glock - Orchestral series - OS9

[austantinople]

I think concert mallets would be worse in an outdoor setting because you wouldn't hear them at all. If you had to get just one pair I'd go with something like Vic Firth M231H that could be used for both settings. Some of Jim Casella's mallets are good for that too.

[BrandonWolk]

I love Innovative but the best mallet i have used for both a concert and outdoor setting is the Vic Firth M124 VanSice. They sound fantastic for both applications.

[BrandonWolk]

I love Innovative but the best mallet i have used for both a concert and outdoor setting is the Vic Firth M124 VanSice. They sound fantastic for both applications.

[EriQ]

I have some Jim Wunderlich JW3 (medium) marimba mallets that I've been experimenting with for the past couple of months and they seem to hold up outside (they are pretty heavy after all) as well as offering a nice sound for indoor concert settings. The only complaint I would have is that they are a bit too heavy in my opinion for concert playing. (I usually use my M114 Van Sice mallets for that). Also great mallet chop builders