How to roll on marimba and xylophone

The mallet roll beginners learn is fast single strokes on one bar, R L R L, so a note that would fade keeps sounding. Roll just fast enough that the sound doesn't dip between strokes, keep both hands even, and connect each rolled note to the next. Compare the three rolls below.

Why mallet players roll

Wooden bars stop ringing quickly. On xylophone, a quarter note has mostly faded before the next beat. When a half note or a whole note should keep sounding, you roll it: you keep striking the bar fast enough that the sound never drops out. The roll marks tell you when.

In a mallet part, a roll is written the same way as a snare roll: three slashes on a quarter, half, or whole note. Flags and beams count toward the three, so a rolled eighth note has two slashes.

In slow music, some directors want marimba players to roll long notes even when the part doesn't mark them. Bells and vibraphone ring for seconds on their own, so they're rolled much less. If you aren't sure whether a long note should be rolled, ask your director.

Two-mallet rolls use single strokes

A snare roll can be a buzz or bounced doubles. Those don't work well on mallets: pressing into the bar stops the ring, and a mallet doesn't bounce the way a stick does on a drumhead. The roll you'll learn first is single strokes, one hand at a time, each one lifting off the bar. Advanced players learn other rolls too, including rolls with four mallets. (For the snare version, see buzz roll vs. double stroke roll.)

Build it slowly. Alternate eighth notes, then sixteenths, then go as fast as both hands stay even. It's the single stroke roll from the rudiments, played on a bar.

How fast to roll

There's no set number of strokes per beat. Roll just fast enough that the sound doesn't dip between strokes. Low bars ring longer, so they can take a slower roll. High bars, and the whole xylophone, fade faster and need a faster one. Dynamics matter too: a soft roll usually needs to be a little faster to sound smooth, and a loud one can be a little slower.

If your roll sounds lumpy, your hands probably don't match. Play slow single strokes and make every left-hand note sound like the right-hand note before it. The Uneven example at the top shows what a mismatch sounds like.

Where to hit the bar

Keep both mallets near the center of the bar, a little apart so the heads don't hit each other. On a back-row bar, both mallets can play the front edge instead, which is closer when you're moving fast. Stay off the nodes: the two spots a little in from each end, where the cord or pins hold the bar. The bar barely moves there, so the roll turns thin and dull. The front edge of a back-row bar is past its node, so it still rings.

Starting and ending a roll

• Start with either hand. Many players start with the right, but pick the hand that fits the notes around the roll, or follow the sticking in your part. Make the first stroke clear so the note has a definite start.
• Roll for the full length of the note. When the quarter note gets the beat, as in 4/4, a half-note roll lasts two beats, so count them.
• If the roll is tied to a note without slashes, roll right up to that note and end with one stroke on it.
• If it's tied to another rolled note, keep rolling through both with no break, even across a bar line.
• If it isn't tied, stop on time, the way a wind player ends a long note. Don't let it trail off early.
• To get louder or softer, change how high the mallets lift. As a control exercise, keep the speed the same while only the height changes. In music, the speed can change a little too.

Rolling two notes at once

To roll two notes, give each hand one: right hand on the higher bar, left hand on the lower. Alternate just as you would on one note. Both notes should sound equally loud. If one fades behind the other, check that both mallets lift to the same height and move at the same speed, and that each lands near the center of its bar. A low bar and a high bar can also ring differently, so listen and adjust.

Moving from note to note

In a slow melody, rolled notes connect like a slur. Keep the strokes going as you move: the next stroke simply lands on the new bar. Look at the next bar before you get there so you aren't hunting for it.

Practice

• Single strokes on a pad or one bar: eighth notes at ♩ = 60, then sixteenths, then as fast as both hands stay even.
• A C major scale in rolled half notes at ♩ = 60, connecting each note to the next.
• The same scale in two-note rolls a third apart: C and E, D and F, E and G, up to the top.

Before you take the roll to the bars, check that your hands match in the single stroke Play-along in Percussion Trainer. It marks each stroke early, late, or on time.