DRUMMER CAFE

Nice job.

My first suggestion, if you haven't already done so, is to listen to recordings of this piece. Use the Amazon search feature here at the Drummer Cafe to find recordings that you can purchase. I found several where you could purchase an MP3 for $0.99 ... even listen to a short sample online for free.

Listen to the phrasing of the cellist. Try to learn from this and create your own phrasing.
Many of the lines sound disconnected and not one voice. When using 4-mallets ... it can be to your benefit or disadvantage. Just because you have 4-mallets doesn't mean you have to use them all the time, and vice versa. The various stickings can help or hurt the phrasing, so choose wisely. The sound you achieve is what's important in the end.

I'd like to hear more of a legato sound throughout ... which is going to help with your phrasing ... and will sound more like a Cello. Since this is a piece for Cello, I think that should be your goal ... first. Once you do that, you can take the piece in whatever direction you want. Right now the attack of each mallet makes it sound like many voices rather than one melodic line coming from one instrument.

Just as a drummer would use various stickings to achieve a specific sound (ie. single vs. double stroke), or just a trumpet player chooses to single, double or triple tongue, so you have to decide what is best. Sometimes the choices come from the tempo, sometimes it's the note spread, sometimes it's because of the voicing/sound requirements. In my opinion, however, the voicing/sound/phrasing is most important; it comes before the mechanics.

The good news is that you have the notes down ... so now take it further ... be more expressive and play the piece as though you were singing the lines vocally.

Keep up the good work.