I'll check my archives to see what I can find. I don't remember if I played this piece in college or not; that was many, many years ago. Perhaps I'll find a recording of myself performing the piece, etc.

I've been trying to find a recording of it so that I can listen to it straight through, and be sure I'm doing it right.  Also, I find that it is easier for me to learn music if I already know what it is supposed to sound like, note-wise, at least.

Jon's right about the limited value of using recording(s) as a reference - not that it's not important, not that it's not beneficial, but the beneits are limited.

Listening to other players' interpretations of a piece can help a student learn how to interpret a work, but at some point, you have to start looking at the score and making your own decisions about how to play it.

Also, keep in mind that a recording is a "snapshot" of how that player interpreted that piece at a particular point in time.  I was fortunate enough to study with Gordon Stout in college, and at one point, we worked on (surprise, surprise) the Mexican Dances.  I knew that he had recorded it on his first album, and I asked if I could borrow his copy to check out how he played the piece.  His reply?  "Sure, go ahead...but keep in mind that I recorded that almost ten years ago, and I don't play the Dances like that any more."  So, in this case, a recording by the composer himself was no longer representative of how he would play the work.

IMHO, if you've heard a recording of the first page or so worth of the piece, you've gotten some pretty good insight into how the player interpreted the piece.  Sit down with the score, and pore through it - and if you're not sure how to interpret something, try a few different ideas there and see what clicks with you.

FWIW, I've heard many different interpretations of Rhythm Song - some faster, some slower...even ones with drum set or congas added!  (And BTW, my understanding is that Smadbeck is open to these different versions - but don't quote me on that, I'm not a friend or acquaintance of Paul, and I didn't hear it "from the horse's mouth.")

FWIW, when I played the piece back in college, I used a set of the old Good Vibes "Dave Samuels" vibe/marimba mallets.  Not so hard as to be clunky in the low end, but with enough contact sound to articulate clearly in the upper range of the piece.  (Had I played the "octave up" part in a multi-player performance of RS, tho, I probably would have gone with something a shade harder.)

I think I either used some Encore mallets, with the latex wrap, or the Stevens SFZ mallets. Too many years ago!

I tried to find a copy of that piece but it is indeed out of print according to my local music shop.

Cool, thanks for the link. Out of curiousity, do you enjoy any Ney Rosauro stuff?

Yeah, that's the title, actually I'm playing that piece right now. It's a great piece, lots of fun to play and very modern sounding, classy, and musical. His musical voice in his writing is really unique and beautiful, I wish I could write music 1/1000 as cool sounding as he can. I can only imagine how much cooler it would sound getting to play it with an orchestra! I've also played/heard his three preludes for marimba and it seems like each one has a few certain ideas or themes and the concerto is like a big mish-mash of all those ideas. He's a really cool composer, I'm going to look for more stuff by him for sure in the future.