Hello. I hope you will pardon this poll of the list concerning availability of bass marimbas. Andrew Stiller's Instrumentation book lists them as extremely rare and normal ones with extensions down to A (from the normal c) as 25%.
But in the years since he wrote the book, my impression is that normal marimbas with extensions down to A or even all the way down to C have become more common. And even that the lowest octave on such marimbas is detachable. Can anyone confirm or deny?
Thanks, Robert
As far as I know, the bass marimba is now entirely or almost extinct, because extended marimbas down to the bottom C have become fairly common. The low A is now absolutely standard on professional marimbas, and only student instruments stop at tenor c. Looking to the future, I would point out that Central American folk marimbas routinely descend to the piano's bottom F, and that early commercial marimbas, which were wildly variable, sometimes descended to the C below that--so there is plenty of room for further expansion.
Nick Carter and I have been discussing the possibility of a new edition of my book, which I hope will become possible within a year, and would include this and numerous other recent developments--and second thoughts.
-- Andrew Stiller Kallisti Music Press
http://home.netcom.com/~kallisti/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
