Mainstream Mallets
In Mainstream Mallets, Jason Hammond-Wood has compiled over 20 short, 2-malet solos with optional piano accompaniment to challenge more experienced middle school students while offering high school percussionists more performance opportunities.
All selections are familiar tunes, including classical favorites such as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Anitra’s Dance (from Peer Gynt), and The Barber of Seville. Also included are nonclassical melodies like The Stars and Stripes Forever, The Entertainer, and On Wisconsin (the university’s fight song).
All pieces are playable on xylophone, vibraphone, or marimba, and two of the solos are adapted to be performed as duets! The optional piano accompaniment may be performed with a pianist, or by using the provided audio accompaniment tracks.
To purchase this book, visit Tapspace Publications. There you can find more information about the book as well as listen to a recording of each piece that is available.
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"Here is a great collection of two-mallet solos based on classic literature from the Baroque to the Romantic period with a couple of marches and ragtime pieces included to round things out. Composers include Bach, Offenbach, Clementi, Dukas, Mozart, Chopin, and Joplin, among others. The book comes with a CD-Rom containing PDF parts for printing and MP3/AAC recordings that include both the complete performances of the works along with the piano accompaniments to be used as play-alongs. As the introduction states, “This collection of 2-mallet solos intends to fill the gap between beginner 2-mallet solos and 4-mallet literature.” The pieces could be played on a marimba, xylophone, or vibraphone.
Each piece is between one and two pages, and contain dynamics but no phrase markings. The book concludes with two duet versions of pieces found earlier in the book. Stickings are included when needed. This is an excellent collection of pieces that have been well presented as pedagogical materials for intermediate students."
—Tom Morgan
Percussive Notes
Vol. 58, No. 2, April 2020