Are You The Keymaster?

A few months ago I started the “Rudiment Champion” challenge with my students. It only took about a week to realize a keyboard version was needed as well.  I decided quickly on the name “Keymaster” because we’ve gotten into the habit in my program of referring to keyboard instruments and their players as “Keys”… also I love the original Ghostbusters movie 🙂

The Keymaster challenge has four levels.  Each level has a collection of related skills, all using 2-mallet technique.  It is my personal opinion that players are forced into the excessively technical world of 4-mallet techniques much too early, and generally long before they master the basic musical elements of their instrument. The Keymaster challenge, therefore, is a concise approach to mastering as many skills and fundamentals as possible before beginning more technically advanced studies.

Level 1: “Artist Scales”

Worksheet

I learned “Artist Scales” from Leigh Howard Stevens in 2005.  They are a reaction against the kinds of scales typically played in band class, which are tailored for wind players.  The challenge is to complete all 12 major scales in under three minutes following the rules on the worksheet.

Most students take between 25-30 minutes on their first attempt.  As each technical or musical issue is mastered, times come down 3-5 minutes at a time, sometimes faster.  It generally takes between 8-12 weeks to complete with weekly testing and correction.  This is the single most valuable lesson I ever teach, because it makes students so completely accountable for results, and covers an enormous range of developmental areas: musical, technical and psychological.

Level 2: Scale Patterns

Worksheet

Scale patterns are about exactly one thing: breaking up the straight line from left to right to left mastered in “Artist Scales”, which results in mastery of the visual layout of the keyboard.

Students generally start on Scale Patterns before finishing “Artist Scales”, because the skills overlap somewhat.  Students who complete “Artist Scales” in three minutes will frequently come back after 4-5 weeks of Scale Patterns and play “Artist Scales” in under two minutes on the first attempt.  This is because the patterns force generalization of key layouts for each scale, which helps the brain to group and process information dramatically faster.

This skill is fundamental to sight reading, memorization, rapid learning, and improvisation, and underlies every other skill by speeding up the ability to see and create on the instrument.

Level 3: Ideo-Kinetics

Worksheet

Gordon Stout is a famous player and teacher, and the head of percussion at Ithaca College.  He is known as one of the few marimbists who plays from music with page turners in concert.  When asked about it he once replied, “By the time I’ve read a piece down 3 or 4 times I play it almost as well as I ever will.  In the amount of time it would take me to memorize it, I could learn 8-10 more pieces.”  His system and accompanying book?  Ideo-Kinetics.

I have six very basic exercises to begin the study of Ideo-Kinetics.  Stout’s book has dozens, but the principle is very simple:  Know where the notes are by FEEL, not by SIGHT.  The marimba is one of the only pitched instruments in the whole world that the player does not touch before playing.  Even a pianist can touch the keys lightly before playing them.  For us, touching IS playing.  This system of finding notes accurately and consistency while essentially blind is fundamental to any level of playing beyond the most basic.

Level 4: Octave Scale Patterns

Worksheet

Using the material from Level 2, this final level tackles the challenges of:

1. Not being able to see both notes at the same time
2. Adjusting the distance of an octave as the bars get wider or narrower

Octaves are incredibly common in both 2- and 4-mallet playing.  The secret is to apply pattern visualization and Ideo-Kinetics together, making it possible to simply add an octave to anything you can play.  Easier said than done.

A Level 4 Keymaster is a person with a very highly tuned and tested understanding of tone production, line, groupings, body placement, and note accuracy, and has killer 2-mallet chops as well.  Beginning 4-mallet technique with a player at this level is no longer about learning an instrument with four sticks in your hand, it’s about applying a new technique to a familiar instrument, and reaching for the same level of mastery from day one.

I know which position I’d rather be in.