January 24 Newsletter

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Vibraphone Coffee

Aaron Shively studies with me. He's a percussionist in Seattle. He also works for Batdorf and Bronson, a coffee roasting company. When I found that out, I talked with him about making a vibraphone
coffee blend.

He sent me lots of samples and I picked my favorite. I couldn't believe but he was willing to make the blend! I've posted this before, but I wanted to bring it up again. We are the only percussion
instrument with it's own blend of coffee (I think). I want to keep this blend around, so I have to keep talking it up hoping some of you buy the coffee and keep the sales going!

Aaron, myself and Malletech created and designed the coffee. Malletech made the graphic. Yes that's a Malletech Omega!

So if you love coffee and can support the cause consider buying some!

Use MorningVibes10 for 10% off

Click here for more info.

African Drums Played With The Burton Grip - Here's Why I Think This Is So Cool

Jerry Leake puts up all these cool videos where he plays African Drums and balifon. It is so kind of him to post all this great stuff. I love it. I wonder if you guys see the opportunity here.

I think mallet players have this fantasy of total independence on the instrument. Kind of like a piano player. Don't think that will happen. But imagine having rhythmic indedpendence. I have transcribed
Balafon players and worked on playing the patterns in their left hands and soloing on top of them with the right hand. It's fun. I don't have a lot of time, so I can't dive into all this, but
maybe some of you can. What a huge impact balifon and african drums could have on your playing. That's IMHO.

Check out the video!

Dampening Speed and Half Dampening

Oliver Mayman dives deep into this instrument. I teach him and can't believe where he goes with all this. Great stuff! Check out his two latest videos:

Dampening Speed

Half Dampening