Okay i need an opinion.. i am known for breaking mallets while playing (and yes i do play with good technique too) but also everyone else in the pit to break mallets.. and i usually buy them.. really expensive ones too. Should i just go and buy cheap ones? or what? does anyone have any suggestions coz i can't keep losin' money! and also i tried the whol everyone pitches in thing. i get like 2 dollars from one person and everyone else "always forgets"... so yeah.

Why should u be the one to go out and buy no ones? If they break while using them for a school related activity, the fee should fall into the hands of the director, not the participants.

The BD doesn't like wasting money.. coz he goes out and buys all expensive ones too and we end up breaking them... I actually am one of the few to play with technique.. they break during loud parts.. but i always have superglue and electric tape with me... so i try to fix them so they are usable again... but still he won't by anymore.. its mostly marching season though i guess everyone gets over excited or nervous.. which i am neither for competitions.. but oh well.. i just need to figure out whether its worth me going out and buying good expensive mallets.. or cheapo if you break them i don't care mallets

make them buy their own, or they dont play, what our snare line and tenor line does. our basses buy crappy mallets when they do it, so they get one pair at the beginning of the year (plus any left over from the previous year for practice mallets) and pit buys their own mallets i believe

Well, if they keep breaking no matter wut (there's gotta be some reason they keep breaking...), then save the good ones for competitions. Use the super glue and duct tape to keep those ones usable for rehearsal, then use the new ones for the shows that matter.

I tried that last year but my section leader was to pig headed to listen to me! Argh.. she said no our bd bought these new ones for a reason and that reason is for us to use them! and than she breaks about all of them! Its all in the technique! argh... at least usually i know our suspended cymbal mallets the tops always fly off but they are in really bad shape.

I say have everyone buy there own mallets too... Then they can all break there own mallets and not need to deal with it. Now for the BD not paying for the mallets he deserves to be smacked, mine isn't even that bad.

We've never actually broken our mallets befor, I don't think the xylo ones we have can break they're like solid plastic and they sound like crap, that's why I have my own for xylos.

ha.. we call those solid plastic kind "fisherprice mallets" lol anywayz.. we had a pair of those... but i kinda smashed them apart on the break drum! they couldn't handle it! but hey the were cheap music store quality!

anywayz.. no one will buy their own than our BD will get on my case next year if i'm SL for us not having anything to play with.. so i'm stuck..
Last year i bought 3 pairs of mallets... only one survived.. but thats coz they were only used by me! i still want my eight ball and cue ball mallets replaced. LoL but they are going to be after my SL grad party when she has money coz thats her passing down gift to me! haha!

alright well if the mallets are breaking to the point were you are running out of them and not having any that is a problem. try answerin a few of these:

1) What mallets are you using? Brand/Model/Shaft-Type/Intended Application/head-Type
2) How did the mallet break? Where? In the shaft (split along the shaft, or a clean break? and at what part top bottom etc), head (craking or breaking into pieces) etc?
3) What/How was the mallet being used for at the time of breakage? On what, what was the "scenario"?

include any other info you can provide and i can probably help you in the breakage dept.

honestly.. i know last year i bought american drums cannon ball, 8 ball and cue ball mallets.. which weren't intended to be used because i thought they were pretty. (i'm dumb i know)


[img]http://americandrum.com/catalog/keyboard/images/eb8.jpg[/img]
[img]http://americandrum.com/catalog/keyboard/images/qb4.jpg[/img]

That shows them.. and the white ones just dented horribly but they were used improperly.. miss section leader used it for warm ups and frickin' pounded the p*ss outta it and it just smashed in.. the 8 balls broke on the stick about 2 or 3 inches below the ball coz it hit the edge of the bars while being played by miss section leader again.) and also one of the tops split in half too.. when being played loudly. the cannon balls are still good just a few knicks in it... so yeah.

i actually do know of some of those mallets. i would highly reccommend switching brands to say a vic firth (corpsmaster for marching band) that would be much MUCH more reliable because you really do need to get mallets suited for their specific purpose. actually almost all brands of sticks conversely have a mallet series and you should check all those out. vf, ip, sf, vater, etc....just start looking at those. actually mike balter is a good (cheaper) alternative to vf's etc, but they don't take very well at all to outdoors or hard handling so i would not reccomend those, they need to be cared for, so don't get those if you know they will be in a rough situation (a.k.a. any outdoor activity...). we actually somehow ended up with an entire box of those cannon ball mallets and oh man...they were bad. try and get a good couple of sets of mallets for each keyboard that go only with that keyboard (or at least that type of keyboard).

for marimbas you want a hard, medium, and soft pair, all yarn-wound. maybe a soft rubber pair depending on the condition of your equipment.

for xylos get yourself a soft, medium, and hard pair of rubber mallets. maybe a hard wound pair for an even softer sound (but going by how you described your xylo, it sounds much like the one pictured in the babypictures thread, so i would not reccommend that for a keyboard like that since they will be eaten). also a pair of lexans, and an pair of phoenelic head mallets.

vibes i would recommend the same range again (soft, medium, hard) but all cord-wrapped. these are generally "mushroom-headed" but not all.

for things like bells have a selection of rubber mallets, a pair of lexans, (phoenelics can be a little too "thuddy") and a pair of brass.

as far as these mallets go, i would reccommend birch shafts on all. (if there is a big problem with shafts breaking maybe go fiberglass...i personally hate fiberglass but they can hold up like mothers....). for marimbas, xylos, and vibes i reccommend round heads. they come in others but round is usually the best. on vibes, shrooms can be okay, and on bells actually smaller heads and those "disc-shaped" rubber heads do often work better for those instruments.

there should really be money in the band budget to have at least that type of selection at least at the begining of each school year. each person though should be responsible for what they break, if they repetitively brak mallets. there is a reason when they do. it can be a part of not having good mallets but in general you should not be havng a severe mallet breaking problem, find out why and how when they do, and make sure everyone learns from that. also though, if you do know that there is a problem with breaking mallets you really should keep a show set and a practice set with mallets that achieve the same result but are not in as good of shape.

yeah, that is a pricey list of mallets i reccommended andwould be pretty expensive to set up. at the same time though, you will get what you pay for. try to get all the specific mallets you need for your show, and try to get a "backup" from somewhere too a the very least.

Two Words ..... Innovative Percussion

They have choices for all applications, but they are not hammers. You definitely can use the wrong mallet or overplay. If you are wasting innovative mallets, then you are doing one or the other.

Perhaps you should try amplifying the keyboards for projection and sound quality.

There is too much electronic equipment cords and stuff as it is. Our BD won't allow anything to amplify our keyboards and stuff he just makes us play even louder! which to some that means no more technique

You can get louder by hitting harder only to a certain point. Anything more than that will either harm sound production or break the equipment. It sounds like the latter is happening to you now.

If you need more volume from the mallets, I would recommend getting some sheets of plexiglass and propping them up at an angle underneath the mallet instruments. With this method, more of the sound will reflect and get directed forward, rather than going straight down and being absorbed by the grass/turf.

well we aren't really on either of those.. we are standing on carts that are pretty much like small stages. Ha i built them.. but anywayz yeah..

Still, the sound if being directed downward, not forward. The idea of the plexiglass was to "aim" the sound towards the audience, thus making the sound louder.

okay wait explain how i do this plexiglass thing.. i'm confused about it

I would reccomend getting a good group of mallets (anything Indoorperc mentioned) to start with. Then if damage occurs you can try to fix it with tape, glue, or rewrapping, or if that fails have the person who broke the mallets replace them. If they are playing with good technique it shouldn't happen often enough for it to cause them a problem. I would use your old mallets for warming up, and possibly practicing, especially in rain so you don't get the good mallets wet.

~ Jen

Last year i tried the whole if you break it you replace it. And that didn't work. I wasn't even section leader and I ended up replacing all the mallets! Oh well... And what just made it funny was it was mostly the section leader breakin' them.. but she was playing with a broken wrist so i have to give her some credit!

The plexiglass thing is easy. Let's say that your xylophone is 4 feet wide by 2.5 feet deep. Go to Home Depot, Lowes, or any other construction materials store and purchase sheets of plexiglass that either are a little narrower that the width but longer than the depth of the floorspace under the xylo. Lets say for the xylo that the plexi should be around 3'6" wide (to account for the legs of the xylo) by 3'6" deep, or purchase large sheets that you can cut to fit if you have multiple instruments. Make sure that the plexi isn't rigid so that you can bend it a quite a bit.

Now once you get the piece cut to size, place it under the xylo with the extra sticking out in front of the instrument. Now you need to find a way to keep the side closest to the player raised up, whether that means drilling a couple holes so you can tie it with string or velcro (remember, you need to be able to take it off and on easily for transport) to the legs or by placing something under it that it can rest on. Leave the other end on the ground so that you now have a curved surface that points toward the audience and that the sound can bounce off of.

Do this for all of your mallet instruments, but make sure that the plexiglass does not touch the resonators, as that will cause some major buzzing. For marimbas that have resonators the come down almost all the way to the floor, you can cut the plexi so that there isn't any under the longest ones. For vibes, drill a hole that is about twice as wide as the damper pedal rod and then cut a slot to that hole from the side the player stands on, so that the damper pedal can still function without any interference. (The reason you need to drill a hole first is because if you have any sharp angles in plexiglass, those spots are very weak and will start to crack through the plastic very quickly. The hole evenly distributes out the stress on the plastic and prevents splitting.)

If you find that the sound is still going more up than out, you can cut a few inches off of the front of the plexi so that the angle is a little steeper, but remember, do it in small (1-2") increments so that you don't over-do it and cut it too short.

LoL... um.. yeah I'll just smile and nod and pretend i understood all of that. Maybe someone in my section will. I'll have to ask! Coz i am definitely lost! *smiles and nods*

Maybe your director will understand MAM's directions, Freakie. It sounds like he ought to be doing something to help you. Anyway, I thought about my former post and I want to add that I think you schould talk to your director about having the band pay for a decent collection of mallets. If he objects that they are being broken too much, explain to him that if the mallets can't be fixed you will tell the people who broke them that they need to replace them. Then the director can be the one to enforce that rule and you won't have to replace them out of your own funds. Also I thought maybe you could collect around $10 or $15 from each person at the beginning of the season and tell them that money will be used to replace mallets. Then tell them they will get the leftover money back at the end or that the money will be used for a party or pit shirts or some kind of reward. That might help them be more careful and less likely to throw the mallets around and damage them by being reckless.

~ Jen

I'll try that and see if it works. But yeah i have some difficult people in the pit. And the BD isn't the coolest guy either!

do what MAM suggested, definately!

also give mike balters a shot... Ive only broken one pair of these, ever

I've broken quite a few mike balters before. But yeah They are pretty tough! Maybe i'll go buy a few of them this year!

I personally, don't really reccommend Balters for outdoor use, especially if they're wrapped. (I've already mentioned this...in this thread actually...page 2 for reference.) They're good mallets (the ones that I personally use even) but they're not the kind that will hold up to abuse like you would need for outdoor, and need to be taken care of because they actually do break with even minimal rough handling. The unwounds hold up better (like with most brands) but still won't last you more than probably one season (if that). They're much better for indoor/concert/ensemble/personal use from what I've experienced. I've used them in the past in indoor drumline situations and we could go through a set of yarn-wrappeds in the time span of a couple days with intense playing (and that was indoor too, without the added element of weather and its effect on them). Like I said already, the unwounds fair slightly better, but will still wear down with the beating that they would get from competitions. We had some from the round unwrapped series and by the time the season was over, they were definately not round anymore. If you're looking for brands I reccommend going back and reading this thread starting on page 2, as I along with some other people, left suggestions there.

also, make sure that you have enough people in pit to balance out! you shouldnt have to play more than a 12" stroke at any time for high school outdoors.

I have found Innovative Percussion rattan mallets to be the most durable. I have pairs of FS420's that are several years old. I have my pit warm up (except 4-mallet ex's) with rattan only, because that puts the most wear on the most durable mallets. I also use FS420's and IP1006's (Cassella Hard Vibe) on the upper register of the marimba <s>[b]alot[/b]</s> [color:"red"]a lot</font> - if you need serious projection AND durability, look into using these types of mallets more. The IP rattan is very thick, which helps the durablility.

I have used the Cannon Balls pictured above for xylo, I think they play well, sound good, and are nearly indestructable. (only seen a couple busted - usually on brake drums)

Also, I have known several instructors who have their upper-marimba mallets taped. They use stick tape to reinforce the birch shafts from just behind the mallet head for about 3-4 inches towards the player's hands. This reinforces the mallets that tend to break - particularly on cymbal crashes.

Incidently, perhaps part of the problem is that the mallets that you've been using don't have enough mass to project well, so you end up playing harder and harder. Mallets intended for outdoor use (Innovative and Vic outdoor series) have more mass, so they project more with less wear on the mallet, player, or instrument. There is an excellent and informative article by Jim Cassella on IP's website - required reading for outdoor pit peeps. Look under "Education" then "Techniques" on their webpage.

Hope this helps-
j Duke

Maybe if the whole front ensemble puts together some cash at the start of the season you can by more mallets at once resulting usually in a discounted price.. That and maybe you should switch to VIC FIRTH CORPSMASTERS.. I have never had one problem with them.. Harder players usaully benefit from using a Rattan Handle because it bends (less damage), also if all the players use proper technique you shouldn't have to play that loud..

Why don't you buy mallets for yourself (any ones you like) and not let anyone touch them so they are forced to buy their own?

I have tried to get people to put some money in. i get about 2 bucks from one person and i still end up buying mallets. If i don't buy mallets than the entire pit won't have anything to play with. And i'll get blamed for it since i'm section leader anywayz. so yeah. i think all the mallets i own are atthe school right now except for my marimba mallets that don't leave my marimba which is downstairs. so yeah.

Our band director buys our mallets and then he keeps them in his office..I think thats a decent idea. But you should keep your own mallets and not let anyone use them other than yourself.

Is it worth it, lemme work it..I put my thing down flip it and reverse it..

My two cents:

I think that sound reflector idea is great. Sounds like you're just being forced to overplay.

In terms of gear, as a general comment I'd recommend rattan shafts instead of birch. They'll take the beating much better but they will be somewhat more difficult to control. Another good thing about rattan is it makes it a bit easier to get a full tone in concert settings.

More specifically, I'd recommend Mike Balter and also Encore. Encore's latex (insert joke here) mallets are great on marimba when you need articulation but still want a full sound. The latex head makes them sound a little tickey when you're playing but the audience won't hear it. They'll just hear the marimba cutting through.

Don't be so sure. Get a manic-depressive kid on meds playing the xylo's after you piss him off. He broke the head of a solid plastic xylo-mallet straight down the middle, don't even ask how that happened.. I don't know either..

hahaha i got my 8 ball mallets and they really bark. But i'm playin' xylo and bells for 2 songs. so i won't break them.

Yeah just don't get mad and split them in half like *cough cough someone in my section.. <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Haha. At this point i just might end up snapping all of my mallets. Coz my section is...okay we just won't get into it. But hey they are mine so it doesn't matter!

i agree with tenors_rule...when my drumline breaks a head..breaks a mallet..or even breaks a snare stick...our director or instructor just gets us new ones..we dont pay for anything

My school is really poor, at the beginning of the year, our DL instructor has everyone give him 20 bux, and until they give him the money, they don't have anything to play with and they do a butt load of running a push-ups. With our snare/bass sticks, he gives them to the pit and they use them for certain things or use him for himself until he recieves the money from that person. Like our bottom bass, the pitt has had the stix for a week now and they aren't even white anymore so he's just going to have to deal or buy new ones....

If the mallets your buying are less then $45 a pair you should consider trying to get ur BD to get over their self and spend money. Tell the percussion that if they don't need to use the mallets for there instrument to leave the alone. We never have broke any mallets before just sanre sticks. The best thing to do is tell ur BD that your not buying any more mallets except for you and that the others just arent going to beable to play unless they buy their own. Our BD doesn't let us play with new sticks during practices just games and comp. so try that.

oh i told someone off today.. she threw the tambourine on top off all the mallets. And i flipped on her coz i own most of them. And yeah... yesterday was not a good day

I broke a xylo mallet right down the middle during a football game two years ago (I was in a perfectly sound state of mind). Its definitely possible, just not common.

~ Jen

Yeah, the phoenelics have a tendency to do that (if that's what you're talking about), I've split them before. After a while I think it has to do with the material and the hole that is drilled for the shaft...after a while the stress from playing and the 'empty' center causes it to split (since most split down the middle or chip). or not. whatever. Lexans don't do that but they get nicked up like crazy.

yeah I know i have cracked a few hard xylo mallets in half plenty of times. And i'm usually in my normal dazed off mood. (people always want to know how i can be so focused when i play when last football game i was thinking about how my shoe was untied and that when i walk to the xylo i'll probably trip and than laugh at myself as the crowd laughs too)