With so much discussion on Stick Control, I thought I would mention Mallet Control. Has anyone ever worked out of this book or own it?
Sorry, I've never used it. For "chops" builders during my student days, I relied upon the Phil Kraus books (two-mallet), the Stevens book (four-mallet), and Buster Baileys' "Mental and Manual Calisthenics" mallet book.
Based upon your description of
Mallet Control, it sounds like the Bailey book accomplishes the same sorts of goals, however it was created specifically for mallet players, not an adaptation of another percussion method.
Here's another thought. Many of you play other instruments besides drums (ie. guitar and piano). Have you ever taken a method book that was meant for one instrument and applied to another? Mallet Control would be an interesting book to apply that concept to, especially for Bass players. Although the book is written in Treble Clef, a bass player could use the sticking variations like how Abraham Laboriel (bass) does with Paradiddles using his thumb and fingers.
Nothing like that for me, in terms of copping material from another book - for those sorts of exercises, I tended to create my own based upon whatever technique was involved (sequential stickings, double stops, etc.)
I have, however, used other instruments' texts on mallets, including:
- Rhythmical Articulation (Pasquale Bona) - vocal text
- Arban's book (trumpet)
- various flute and violin texts, etudes, and solos
- various bass-clef-instrument books, for reading and sight-reading purposes
In these cases, I would just take the exercise(s) and etudes, and simply play them as well as I could on marimba - no serious restructuring of the material a la the Abe Laboriel example above.
