花叉叉嘣擦擦

玩艺术比玩男人爽得多，画画的过程所获得的高潮强烈而持久，不仅有快感，更有巨大的自我认同感，远胜于那几秒寒颤之后无边的空虚与落寞。

打电话一定要先找个安静的地方坐下来，叫一杯饮料边喝边聊，

不去CLUB不看演出，打羽毛球比泡吧重要，

开始关注衣食住行的品质，吃得有格调比吃的便宜更重要，

挑衣服一律只挑单色系没有图案和LOGO，但是必须有小剪裁小设计，

自己的感受放为首要，觉得男朋友可以不要，

多了一份从容与淡定，少了一份幼稚与桀骜。

http://www.ultra-book.com/-yaoyichun

突然意识到自己容易被某种同一类型的同性吸引，而且当我发现自己已经被那个人吸引的刹那，我同时能够感觉到对方也已经被我吸引了，这种感觉和我被某个异性吸引时的感觉一样，但是被同性吸引时产生的感觉更加单纯，有时被异性吸引是因为被自己的性别暗示，当我被某个异性吸引的时候更让我体会到自己的性别身份，让我感觉很特别，但是当我被某种同一类型的同性吸引的时候，让我感受到有人和我一样，让我感觉很安全，而当我被异性吸引的时候，我也能感受到对方也正在被我吸引，这样的互相体验的感觉在同性和异性身上我都能够体会到，所以我觉得两者的区别就是当我被男人吸引的时候让我更觉得自己是个女人，让我从所未有的渴望自己变地更女人，而当我被女人吸引的时候让我忘记了自己是个女人，感觉对方和我一样在互相吸引的时候我可以完全忘记自己的性别，忘记自己的身份。其实我相信除了SEX，每个人都一样在不同程度上迷恋同性或者异性。只不过有些事肉体上的，有些人只是精神上的，感情上的。只是心理学和科学过分强调了之间的差别。

事情是这样的，去年的时候我的朋友介绍我帮她的朋友做一套餐厅的VI设计，当时我建议我的朋友，我要先和那个人见一面再说，详细了解一下设计的具体情况，然后双方签一下合同，先付我百分之三十的定金，我朋友说她朋友东西要的特别急，三天之后就要，然后叫我帮忙赶一赶，我想既然是朋友介绍也就没有多想，（再加上当时正好辞职在家，能有兼职的机会我也不想放弃。）然后我就在家里加班帮她把东西赶出来了，两天后我就和我的朋友跟她约在某个地方看我做的设计，当时她和她的男朋友都很满意我的设计，我和我的朋友也都很高兴，（为了这次设计我华了非常多的心血），后来她说她不能马上决定用我设计的哪一套方案，因为这个项目是要找别人投资的，要给投资人看过我的设计以及她和她男朋友的项目计划书后才能决定到底用哪套设计，他们这么说的时候，我突然觉得事情有点玄，当时可能他们看出了我的疑虑，她的男朋友叫她和我写张纸条，在上面说明绝不会在我不知道的情况下用我的任何设计，我越来越觉得不对劲了，我想万一最后真的没有用我的设计那我不是白做了嘛！？ 但是我又有什么办法，我东西已经全做好了，我现在已经完全处在被动地位。但是当时我要求写个报价给他们，她听到我这么说，然后她就说：“这个先不急，这个下一步，等我们这里有回复了你再报价给我们。” 但是我回去后还是写了个email,把我设计的价格报给了他们。（妈的，现在回头再看这件事情简直太混乱了！） 但是更混乱的还在后面，听我告诉你。这件事就这样拖了3，4个月，在这三，四个月里，他们居然一个电话都没有，然后那天我问我朋友，她告诉我说她帮我问过她了，那件事吹了，他们没找到投资商做这个事，然后我问那钱怎么办呢，她说她再问问她，后来过了又一段时间，我朋友说她某一天想约我出来吃饭，然后可能想给我点补偿金什么的，但是那几天我工作很忙就说没有时间。然后这件事情就这样搁浅了，（现在想想我也太不在乎我自己的事情了，要是当时我争取一下，我应该能要到我自己的钱的。）又大概半年之后，我的朋友告诉我她要和我见面，有事情要谈，然后可能有个新的vi项目要做，然后我就去了，去之前，我想他们应该会把上次欠我的钱给我的，没想到到了之后他们对上次的事情一字未提，更别提钱的事了。那天见到他们之后我还没来得及开口，他们就像开炮一样向我介绍这次新的项目，我当时又被他们的花言巧语给骗过去了，居然答应又给他们做了，当时我想有了上次的教训这次只要谨慎行事的话应该没有问题的！几天后我就去和他们签了一份协议，（协议是我自己写的，写的十分详细，包括付款时间和所有细节）,然后我拿到了所有费用的三分之一预付金，我用了两个礼拜的时间就把所有设计搞定了，除了菜单，因为菜单的照片他们还没有请摄影师来拍，就这样拖了一个月，然后我打电话过去，她（那个bitch）说他们还没有请到摄影师，我问她那什么时候请摄影师，她说过一个月，然后我就等了一个月打电话过去，她说摄影师还没有请到，过完年的上班第一天给我答复，于是过完年我就打电话过去，她说她那边的事暂时拖着，遇到一点问题，我觉得不对了，她肯定又想赖我钱了！我说你要的设计我都给你了，菜单也设计好了，只不过照片没有放上去，但那是你的问题，是你没有把需要的材料提供给我，不是我设计的原因，我告诉她我要我拿到我的全部设计费。她说事情还没有完她是不可能给我钱的。然后说过段时间他们那里事情又进展了，需要设计菜单的时候再给我电话，我但是不知道说什么好，就这样挂了电话。于是又过了一段时间，大概一两个月，我又打电话过去，这次非常强硬，告诉他们我要拿到我所有的设计费，这个项目已经从去年拖到今年了，我不可能因为你们那方的原因而拿不到我的报酬！但是后来她还是说等她那里答复。我没办法了，又打电话给她男朋友，他男朋友说他回去查一下，他不是很清楚这个事情，等他查清楚给我电话。但是我等了一个礼拜，她男朋友连个屁都没有，我又打电话过去，问他查地怎么样了，他说他正在忙，让我过了周末周一周二再联系他，我当时就火了，我说等你忙完打我电话，他没说话然后就很不礼貌地挂了我电话，我操！！我愤怒了。我等阿等，终于到了周一，我打过去，关机，于是我打她女朋友电话，她女朋友还是老话，事情没有结束他们是不肯能给我钱的。我真的火了！我说我有当时写的合同，合同上写的是12月25日，现在都什么时候了！你们那里出问题了和我没关系！她说现在这个事情不是她管了，她已经离开这个公司了。我当时真想抽她！！！然后她说他们那个餐厅和协和城的协约出了问题，他们在和协和城打官司，他们所有的供应商和装潢供应商都暂停了，我火了！！我说，那是你们自己的问题，你们和供应商打官司那是你们的问题没有处理好，我这里也有问题，我有我的底线，我有我的原则，我有我们当时写的协议，她说好吧，你可以用任何方法来争取你的权利，随便你。 她都这么说了，好吧，等着，我一定会找律师的。

后感：希望所有从事自由职业的朋友能从我这里得到一些启发。

ps：希望中国能像法国一样早日能出现保护自由职业设计师的官方机构，保护所有像我一样的人。

2009.4.22 我写了最后通告给他们

　Hi! Yvonne,Francais,
　　
　　关于country bistro的设计项目协议上写的是2008年11月30日完成，但是由于你们一方的原因而导致协议无法正常进行，你们不同我进行积极沟通，不向我提供我 需要的设计材料（菜单照片），故意推托项目的进行。你方理应支付我5000人民币设计金额，但是我只有收到1350元的定金，你们以种种荒谬的理由作为拒 绝支付我的原因，我告诉你们，我不是风投，我不需要承担任何风险！协议上写的多少钱我就应该拿到多少钱！剩下的3650元我要求你们在2009年5月1日 之前全部付清，如果在2009年5月1日之前我没有收到3650元，我将以法律手段解决。
　　
　　请注意，协议上写着：
　　“甲方承诺如提前终止协议，仍承担向乙方支付全部协议款的义务。”
　　
　　姚轶淳
　　2009年4月22日

Now that I've lost everything to you
you said you want to start something new.
and it's breakin' my heart you leaving
baby I'm grievin'

but if you wanna leave,take good care
hope you have a lot of nice things to wear
but then a lot of nice things turn bad out there.

Oh baby baby it's a wild world,
it's hard to get by just upon a smile;

oh baby baby it's a wild world,
I'll always remember you just like a child girl.

You know I've seen a lot of what the world can do
and it's breakin' my heart in two
because I never want to see you sad girl don't be bad girl,
but if you wanna leave take good care
hope you make a lot of nice friends out there
but just remember there's a lot of bad and beware.

Oh baby baby it's a wild world,
it's hard to get by just upon a smile

oh baby baby it's a wild world
I'll always remember you just like a child girl.

Lalalalalalalalalalaa lalalalalalaa lalalalalaalala X2

Baby i love you,
but if you wanna leave take good care
I hope you make alot nice friends out there.
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware.

Oh baby baby it's a wild world,
it's hard to get by just upon a smile

不已物喜才是大喜，

不已己悲才是大悲。

The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the mallet subfamily of the percussion family.

It is similar in appearance to the xylophone and marimba, although the vibraphone uses aluminum bars instead of the wooden bars of those instruments. The vibraphone also has a sustain pedal similar to that used on a piano. When the pedal is up, the bars are all damped and the sound of each bar is quite short; with the pedal down, they will sound for several seconds.

The most common uses of the vibraphone are within jazz music, where it often plays a featured role, and in the wind ensemble, as a standard component of the percussion section.

Vibraphone

A typical vibraphone
Percussion instrument
Other names	Vibraharp, Vibes
Hornbostel-Sachs Classification	111.222 (Directly struck idiophone)
Inventor(s)	Henry Schluter
Developed	1927
Playing range
Related instruments
Marimba, Xylophone
Musicians
Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Gary Burton, Bobby Hutcherson
Builders
Musser, Yamaha

History

The first musical instrument called "vibraphone" was marketed by the Leedy Manufacturing Company in the United States in 1921. However, this instrument differed in significant details from the instrument now called the vibraphone. The Leedy vibraphone achieved a degree of popularity after it was used in the novelty recordings of "Aloha 'Oe" and "Gypsy Love Song" by vaudeville performer Louis Frank Chiha ("Signor Frisco").^[1]

Former headquarters of J. C. Deagan, Inc. in Chicago, where Henry Schluter invented the vibraphone. Now (2008) home to Century Mallet Instrument Service.

This popularity led J. C. Deagan, Inc. in 1927 to ask its Chief Tuner, Henry Schluter, to develop a similar instrument. However, Schluter didn't just copy the Leedy design, he introduced several significant improvements such as making the bars from aluminum instead of steel for a more "mellow" basic tone, adjustments to the dimensions and tuning of the bars to eliminate the dissonant harmonics in the Leedy design (further mellowing the tone), and the introduction of a damper bar controlled by a foot pedal enabling it to be played with more expression.^[1] Schluter's design was more popular than the Leedy design, and has become the template for all instruments called vibraphone today.

However, when Deagan began marketing Schluter's instrument in 1928, they called it the vibraharp. As its popularity grew other manufacturers began producing instruments based on Schluter's design, marketed under a variety of names, including Leedy, who marketed their new instrument as the vibraphone and abandoned their old design.

The name confusion continues, even to the present, but over time vibraphone became significantly more popular than vibraharp. By 1974, the Directory of the D.C. Federation of Musicians listed 39 vibraphone players and 3 vibraharp players.^[1] As of 2008, the term vibraharp has disappeared except for anachronistic uses. Often, vibraphone is shortened to "vibes", and the two terms are used interchangeably.

The initial purpose of the vibraphone was to add to the large arsenal of percussion sounds used by vaudeville orchestras for novelty effects. This use was quickly overwhelmed in the 1930's by its development as a jazz instrument. As of 2008, it remains primarily, although not exclusively, a jazz instrument.

The DVD Lionel Hampton: Jazz Legend King of the Vibes chronicles the 73 year career of Lionel Hampton, the original jazz vibraphonist.

The popularity of the vibraphone as a jazz instrument can primarily be credited to one man, Lionel Hampton. The story, perhaps apocryphal, is that "Hamp", a drummer at the time, was playing at the NBC radio studios, where he discovered a vibraphone that was kept on hand to play the musical motif identifying the NBC network, the "NBC Chimes". After the gig, he spent a considerable amount of time exploring the instrument, and fell in love with it.

Later (October 16, 1930), Hampton was recording with Louis Armstrong & His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra, and the studio they were working in happened to have a vibraphone. Hampton showed Armstrong what he could do, and they decided to add vibes to one of the tunes ("Memories of You"), creating the first known jazz recording using the vibraphone.

After this, Hampton decided to concentrate on the vibraphone, eventually joining the Benny Goodman Quintet, and later leading his own big bands and achieving great popularity.

Manufacturers

The first manufacturer of vibraphones in the modern configuration was J. C. Deagan, Inc., of Chicago, IL, USA (although they called the instruments vibraharps). As the market for vibraphones was proven, first as a vaudeville novelty instrument and then as a jazz instrument, several other manufacturers stepped in to supply the demand. These included the Leedy Manufacturing Company, of Indianapolis, IN, USA, who retained the vibraphone name of their earlier product but abandoned its design in favor of the Henry Schluter innovations, and the Jenco Company, of Decatur, IL, USA, who initially marketed their instruments as "vibrabells".

Outside of the United States, the Premier Drum Company, of London, UK, after experimenting with a variety of aluminum bar instruments more closely related to the glockenspiel that were called variations of “harpaphone”,^[1] moved to the production of the Schluter vibraphone design. Bergerault, of Ligueil, France also began manufacturing vibraphones in the 1930’s.

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, each manufacturer attracted its own following in various specialties, but the Deagan vibraphones were the models preferred by many of the emerging class of specialist jazz players. Deagan struck endorsement deals with many of the leading players, including Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson.

The "One-Nighter" vibraphone (old design), the entry-level model in Musser's line. Highly popular for its successful mix of affordability, transportability and decent sound.

In 1948, the Musser Company was founded by Claire Omar Musser.^[2] Musser was an accomplished marimba and xylophone player famous for touring the United States and Europe leading "marimba symphony orchestras". He applied his experience and observations with the current designs of mallet instruments to his eponymous company and the result was a high-quality line of mallet instruments. His vibraphones emerged as quite comparable in quality to Deagan vibraphones and Musser was able to garner a share of the top-end market.

The 1960s and 1970s saw a shakeup in the vibraphone market. Leedy and Jenco ceased operations. The Deagan operation was purchased by the Yamaha Corporation. Although Yamaha used the Deagan knowledge to improve their own designs, for vibraphones they discontinued the use of the Deagan name and Deagan model legacy and as of 2008 no visible trace to Deagan remains (Yamaha does continue to use the Deagan name for a line of orchestra bells and chimes). The Musser Company was purchased first by Ludwig Drums, and then, through Ludwig, was purchased by Conn-Selmer, Inc. Unlike the fate of Deagan, the Musser brand and model line were retained by the purchasing companies, and Musser vibraphones remain a major force in the vibraphone market.

This period also saw the emergence of new vibraphone manufacturers. Notable companies include Adams Musical Instruments of Ittervoort, The Netherlands and Ross Mallet Instruments, now owned by Jupiter Band Instruments of Austin, TX, USA.

As of 2008, the vibraphone marketplace is remarkably active, considering the specialty nature of the instrument. The major players include Musser, Yamaha, Adams and Ross. Bergerault, Premier, Studio 49 from Gräfelfing, Germany and the Saito Gakki Company of Japan continue in operation. In addition to the "mass" producers of vibraphones, custom manufacturers, notably vanderPlas Percussion of The Netherlands, are also active.

Range

The standard modern instrument has a range of three octaves, from the F below middle C (F3 to F6 in scientific pitch notation). Larger three-and-a-half or four octave models from the C below middle C are also becoming more common (C3 to F6 or C7). It is generally written at concert pitch, but sometimes some composers (for example, Olivier Messiaen) write parts to sound an octave higher.

Construction

The major components of a vibraphone are the bars, resonators, damper pad, motor and a frame to hold them all together. Vibraphones are usually played with mallets.

Bars

Interior of vibes exposed, showing deep arch and tuning marks in bar bottom, resonators, disks, damper bar and pins for holding bars.

Vibraphone bars are made from aluminum, which is the most obvious way to distinguish a vibraphone from the other members of the mallet percussion family. Aluminum for vibraphone bars is normally obtained from standard commercial suppliers. For example, Musser has used the #2024-T4 product from Alcoa.^[3] Different alloys of aluminum have slightly different tonal characteristics. Manufacturers must choose their preferred alloy carefully, balancing the tonal characteristics with the ability to obtain supply over the long term.

Aluminum stock is purchased in long bars of the desired width and thickness, and then cut into the appropriate lengths. Next, holes are drilled through the width of bars at the two so-called "nodal" points. The nodal points are the points near the ends of the bar where the wave-like fundamental vibration of a sounding bar causes little or no movement of the bar itself, theoretically at a proportion of 0.244 from each end of the bar.^[3]

The next step in the basic shaping of the bar is to cut a deep arch in the base running between the nodal points. This deep arch is key to the "mellow" sound of the vibraphone (and marimba, which uses the same deep arch) compared to the xylophone, which uses a shallower arch, and the glockenspiel, which has no arch at all. Vibrating rectangular bars have three primary modes of vibration.^[3] The deep arch causes these modes to align and create a consonant arrangement of intervals: a fundamental pitch, a pitch two octaves above that, and a third pitch an octave and a major third above the second. For the F3 bar that usually forms the lowest note on a vibraphone, there would be F3 as the fundamental, F5 as the first partial and A6 as the second partial.^[3]

Once the bar has obtained its basic shape, it must be fine tuned. Normally, the dimensions and tolerances of the initial bar creation process are set to create a slightly sharp bar. If the bar is flat, its overall pitch structure can be raised by removing material from the ends of the bar. Once this slightly sharp bar is created, the individual tones can be tuned flatter by removing material from specific locations of the bar.^[3]

The specific points from which to remove material are the "anti-nodal" points of each vibration mode. These are the points where there is the most movement of the bar. To tune the fundamental mode, the tuning point is in the center of the bar. Scraping material from there will lower the fundamental pitch without lowering the other partials, since these partials have nodal points there. The two outside anti-nodal points for the first partial, which has a 4:1 relation to the fundamental, are just inside the main nodal points and are used to tune that partial.^[3] For most vibraphones, only the fundamental and first partial are tuned. The second partial can be tuned using appropriate anti-nodal points from its vibration mode.

Higher quality vibraphones tend to have "graduated" bars. That is, the lower bars are wider than the higher bars, graduating through a number of steps of decreasing width. This helps to balance the volume of the instrument across the entire range. Vibraphone bars can come in a variety of colors, usually silver or gold, but other colors are available, created by anodizing the bars after fine tuning. This has no effect on the tone of the bars. Bars are also available in matte or glossy finish. Some argue that there are tonal differences due to the finish.^[4]

Resonators

Resonators are thin-walled tubes, typically made of aluminum, but any suitably strong material will do. They are open at one end and closed at the other. Each bar is paired with a resonator whose diameter is slightly wider than the width of the bar, and whose length to the closure is one-quarter of the wavelength of the fundamental frequency of the bar. The resonator for A3 (the lowest A on a vibraphone) is approximately 15 inches long.^[3] When the bar and resonator are properly in tune with each other, the vibrating air beneath the bar travels down the resonator and is reflected off the closure at the bottom, then returns back to the top and is reflected back by the bar, over and over, creating a much stronger standing wave and amplifying the fundamental frequency. The resonators, beside raising the upper end of the vibraphone's dynamic range, also affect the overall tone of the vibraphone, since they amplify the fundamental, but not the upper partials.^[3]

There is a trade-off between the amplifying effect of the resonators and the length of sustain of a ringing bar. Basically, all of the energy in a ringing bar comes from the initial mallet strike, and that energy can go to making the bar ring either louder initially, or not as loud but longer. This is not an issue with marimbas and xylophones, where the natural sustain time of the wooden bars is short, but vibraphone bars can ring for many seconds after being struck, and this effect is highly desirable in many circumstances. Therefore the resonators in a vibraphone are usually tuned to be slightly off-pitch to create a balance between loudness and sustain.^[5]

Another difference in vibraphone resonators is the presence of a rotating disk at the top of each resonator. The disks for a group of resonators are ganged together with a shaft that can be driven from an electric motor to cause the disks to rotate. When the disks are open (standing vertically) the resonators have full function. When the disks are closed (lying horizontally) the vibrating column of air is blocked, reducing the amplification effect. As the disks rotate, this varies the amplitude of the instrument, creating a "vibrato" effect.

Some argue that calling this effect vibrato is incorrect, saying that vibrato is a variation in pitch, not amplitude. The correct term should be tremolo, a variation in amplitude, and therefore the vibraphone is incorrectly named; it should be called a tremolophone. Others argue ^[1] that the common usage of vibrato and tremolo is nowhere near that precise, even among experienced musicians who should presumably know better. Additionally, in this context, there is the extra consideration that the rotating plates interfere with wave-fronts in the resonator tubes to cause doppler-effect pitch variations. This can be observed using an oscilloscope.^{[citation needed]}

 Damper pad

The damper pad is a strip of piano felt, usually about one inch wide and deep, that runs down the middle of the vibraphone. It is attached to hinges on the ends, and a spring assembly and pedal in the middle. When the pedal is up, the spring forces the damper pad up into contact with the bars, muffling any ringing bars. When the pedal is depressed, the damper bar is pulled down, allowing the bars to ring freely.

The damper pad is the source of many maintenance headaches for vibraphone players. The pad must be perfectly level, both left-to-right and front-to-back, in order to contact all of the bars simultaneously. When it is not level, some bars will stop ringing before others, making it difficult to cleanly articulate. After some years of use, the bars can make indentations in the pad where they normally rest, compressing the felt and sometimes causing buzzing as the bars contact the pad. Also, when the bars are struck while the damper pad is up, the pad can transfer the force of the impact into the frame, rattling anything that is loose.

In the early 1990s, vibraphonist John Mark Piper designed a new vibraphone for Musser that, among other innovations, included a water-filled damper pad. Later that decade, custom vibraphone maker Nico van der Plas improved on the idea by using silicone gel as the filling. These pads eliminate impact transference and provide more even dampening. Many vibraphones have been retrofitted with gel pads, although the vast majority of vibraphones still use felt dampers.

Motor

Vibraphones usually have an electric motor and pulley assembly mounted on one side or the other to drive the disks in the resonators. The early vibraphones used motors that were intended to power record player turntables,^[1] and had limited or no speed adjustment capabilities. Whatever speed adjustments were possible were made by moving the drive belt among a small number of pulleys (usually three) of varying diameters.

Later, variable speed AC motors became available at reasonable prices. These motors allow the adjustment of the rotating speed via a potentiometer mounted on a control panel near the motor. They typically support rotation rates from about 1 Hz to about a dozen Hz. These motors remained the preferred solution until the 1990s, and even as of today are still the most widely used.

During the 1990s, some manufacturers began using computer-controlled servo stepping motors. These motors allow rotation rates so slow that they approach 0 Hz. The computer control also allows operations that are not possible with an analog motor, such as the ability to synchronize the rotation of the two resonator sets and stop the rotation at a desired state (all open, all closed, all half open, etc.).

Frame

The vibraphone frame offers a number of challenges to designers. It must be sturdy enough to endure the torsional forces created by the damper/spring/pedal assembly and the stresses of repeated transport and playing, while still being light enough for easy transport. Considering the weight of the bars alone, that doesn’t leave much left for the frame. Also, the bars must be securely attached to the frame, but not rigidly. Each bar must have some independent flex in order to ring.

Vibraphone frames consist of two end blocks, made of metal, wood or a combination, attached by various support members. Usually the end blocks are approximately the same size as the two bars that are at the same end; therefore one block is significantly larger than the other.

The motor is attached to the frame at one end. The hinges for the damper bar are attached at each end, and the spring assembly and the pedal are usually attached in the middle. Two banks of resonator tubes are laid into grooves in the frame so that they straddle the damper bar. The resonators are not firmly fastened to the frame. The ends of the shafts that gang the disks are attached to the drive of the motor via a drive belt similar to an O-ring.

A bed for the bars is made by laying four wooden rails onto pins on the end blocks. Like the resonators, these rails are not firmly attached to the frame. Each rail has a series of pins with rubber spacers that will support the bars. The bars are arranged into two groups, and a soft cord is passed through the nodal holes in the bars of each group. The bars are laid between the support pins, with the cord hooking the pins. The pins on the outside rails have U-shaped hooks and the cord just rests in the bend. The inside pins have a hook that grasps the cord and holds the bars in place against the force of the damper pad. The two ends of the cord are attached with a spring at one end to provide tension and flex.

The two rows of bars follow the piano convention of white and black keys, with the row nearer to the player corresponding to the white keys. As with the piano, the lower notes are on the player’s left. Unlike the marimba and the xylophone, the two rows of bars are in the same horizontal plane so that the damper bar will come in contact with both rows at the same time.

Frames come in a variety of styles, from functional to ornate, but, except for negatively via squeaks and rattles, they don’t really to contribute to the tonal qualities of the vibraphone. Some frames allow the distance between the bars and the resonators to be adjusted, to compensate for variations in air temperature, pressure and moisture that change the speed of sound and therefore the tuning of the bar/resonator system, but this is more common in marimbas than vibraphones. Other frames allow the adjustment of the height of the bar bed. It’s common to see players who don’t have this capability hunched over their instruments while they play as the standard height of non-adjustable frames is often too low for men of average height.

Mallets

Typical vibes mallets.

Vibraphone mallets usually consist of a rubber ball core wrapped in yarn or cord and attached to a narrow dowel, most commonly made of rattan or birch (other materials, such as nylon, are sometimes used). Mallets suitable for the vibraphone are also generally suitable for the marimba.

The specific mallets used can have a great effect on the tonal characteristics of the sound produced, ranging from a clang of harsh clashes to a mellow ring with no obvious initial attack. Consequently, a vast array of mallets is available, offering variations in hardness, head size, weight, shaft length and flexibility.

Classical players must carry a wide range of mallet types to accommodate the changing demands of composers who are looking for particular sounds. Jazz players, on the other hand, since "we don’t know what we’re going to want to play until the second or two that we're there",^[6] tend to stick to a single general-purpose mallet type that works well in all dynamic ranges. Often this choice becomes one of the defining items of the player's personal style. Many jazz players alter commercially available mallets to get just the tone they want.

Technique

Vibraphone busker. The resonators have been removed, presumably to ease transportation.

The world of vibraphone players can be roughly divided into those who play with two mallets, and those who play with four. In reality the division is not quite so neat. Many players switch between two, three and four mallets depending on the demands of their current musical situations.

Furthermore, concentrating on the number of mallets a player holds means missing the far more significant differences between the two-mallet and four-mallet playing styles. As of 2008, these differences are not quite as extensive as they were when Gary Burton first introduced the world to the four-mallet style in the 1960s, but they still exist to a large degree.

Two-mallet style

The two-mallet approach to vibes is traditionally linear, playing like a horn. Two-mallet players usually concentrate on playing a single melodic line and rely on other musicians to provide accompaniment. Double stops (two notes played simultaneously) are sometimes used, but mostly as a reinforcement of the main melodic line, similar to the usual use of double stops in solo violin music. In jazz groups, two-mallet vibraphonists are usually considered part of the "front line" with the horn players, contributing solos of their own but contributing very little in the way of accompaniment to other soloists.

Two-mallet players use several different grips, with the most common being a palms-down grip that is basically the same as the matched grip used by drummers. The mallets are held between the thumb and index finger of each hand, with the remaining three fingers of each hand pressing the shafts into the down-facing palms. Strokes use a combination of wrist movement and fingertip control of the shaft.

Milt Jackson, circa 1980. Note his characteristic palms-inward two-mallet grip.

Another popular grip is similar to the timpani grip. The mallets are again held between the thumb and index fingers and controlled with the remaining three fingers, but the palms are held vertically, facing inward towards each other. Most of the stroke action comes from the finger-tip control of the shafts.

Passages are usually played hand-to-hand with double-sticking (playing two notes in a row with the same hand) used when convenient in minimizing crossing the hands.

The player must pay close attention to the use of the damper pedal in order to cleanly articulate and avoid multiple notes ringing unintentionally at the same time. Since the notes ring for some significant fraction of a second when struck with the damper pad up, and ringing bars do not stop ringing immediately when contacted by the pad, a technique called "after pedaling"^[7] is necessary. In this technique, the damper pedal is depressed marginally after the note is struck, shortly enough after so that the recently struck note continues to ring, but long enough after so that the previous note has stopped ringing.

Another damper technique is "half pedaling", where the pedal is depressed just enough to remove the spring pressure from the bars, but not enough so the pad has lost contact with the bars. This allows the bars to ring slightly longer than with the pad fully up and can be used to make a medium-fast passage sound more legato without pedaling every note.

Four-mallet style

The four-mallet vibraphone style is multi-linear, like a piano. "Thinking like a pianist, arranger, and orchestrator, the vibist approaches the instrument like a piano and focuses on a multi-linear way of playing."^[8] In jazz groups, four-mallet vibraphonists are often considered part of the rhythm section, typically substituting for piano or guitar, and providing accompaniment for other soloists in addition to soloing themselves. Furthermore, the four-mallet style has led to a significant body of unaccompanied solo vibes playing. One notable example is Gary Burton’s performance of "Chega de Saudade (No More Blues)" from his Grammy-winning 1971 album "Alone at Last". ^[9]

Although some early vibes players made use of four mallets, notably Red Norvo and sometimes Lionel Hampton, the fully-pianistic four-mallet approach is almost entirely the creation of Gary Burton. Many of the key techniques of the four-mallet style, such as multi-linear playing and the advanced dampening techniques describe below, are easily applied to playing with two mallets and some modern two-mallet players have adapted these devices to their playing, somewhat blurring the distinctions between modern two- and four-mallet players.

Vibraphonist Gary Burton and guitarist Julian Lage. Note the good view of the Burton four-mallet grip.

The most popular four-mallet grip for vibraphone is the Burton grip, named for Gary Burton. One mallet is held between the thumb and index finger and the other is held between the index and middle fingers. The shafts cross in the middle of the palm and extend past the heel of the hand. For wide intervals, the thumb often moves in between the two mallets and the inside mallet is held in the crook of the fingers.

Also popular is the Stevens grip, named for marimbist Leigh Howard Stevens. Many other grips are in use, some variations on the Burton or Stevens, others idiosyncratic creations of individual vibes players. One common variation of the Burton grip places the outside mallet between the middle and ring fingers, instead of between the index and middle.^[10]

Vibraphonist Joe Locke's idiosyncratic four-mallet grip. Many vibes players adapt the "standard" grips by varying degrees to suit their personal physiology and musical expression.

Four-mallet vibists usually play scalar linear passages much the same as two-mallet players, using one mallet from each hand (outside right and inside left for Burton grip), except four-mallet players tend to make more use of double strokes, not only to avoid crossing hands but also to minimize motion between the two bar rows. For example, an ascending E flat major scale could be played L-R-R-L-L-R-R-L, keeping the left hand on the "black" bars and the right hand on the "white". For linear passages with leaps, all four mallets are often used sequentially.^[8]

Pedaling techniques are at least as important for the four-mallet vibist as for two-mallet players, but the all-or-nothing dampening system of the pedal/pad presents many obstacles to multi-linear playing since each line normally has its own dampening requirements independent of the other lines. To overcome this, four-mallet players use a set of dampening techniques referred to as "mallet dampening", in addition to the pedaling techniques used by two-mallet players. The mallet dampening techniques "are to the vibist as garlic and fresh basil are to the Northern Italian chef"^[11] and contribute significantly to expressive four-mallet playing.

Mallet dampening includes "dead strokes" where a player strikes a bar, and then instead of drawing the mallet back, directly presses the head of the mallet onto the bar, causing the ringing to immediately stop. This produces a fairly distinctive "choked" sound and dead strokes are often used just for that particular sound in addition to the dampening aspects.

In hand-to-hand dampening, the vibist plays a note with one mallet, while simultaneously pressing another mallet onto a previously ringing bar. Usually the dampening mallet and the striking mallet are held in different hands, but advanced players can, in some circumstances, use two mallets from the same hand.^[12] This is the most powerful of the mallet dampening techniques as it can be used to dampen any note on the instrument while simultaneously striking any other note.^[11]

Slide dampening can be used to dampen a note that is physically adjacent to the new note being struck. The player strikes the new note and then controls the rebound of the mallet so that it slides over and onto the note to be dampened.^[11] Sometimes slide dampening can make the new note sound "bent" or as if there is a glissando from the dampened note to the ringing one, as the two notes normally ring together for some short period of time.

Hand dampening (also know as finger dampening^[11]) can be used to dampen a white note while striking a nearby black note. As the player strikes a black note with a mallet, they simultaneously press the heel of their hand or the side of their pinky finger onto the ringing white bar, using the same hand to strike the black note and dampen the white note. Using both hands, it's possible to dampen and strike two notes at once.

Specialty techniques

Pitch bending: This technique allows the pitch of a ringing bar to be smoothly lowered, or "bent", downward, by a half-step or so. To do this, the player replaces one of the normal mallets with a hard-headed mallet such as a hard plastic xylophone mallet or a brass glockenspiel mallet. The player presses the special mallet onto a ringing bar at the nodal point, and then slides the mallet out towards the middle or edge of the bar. This causes the mallet to start vibrating with the bar, adding its weight to the system and slowing the vibration. The player must be very careful in placing the hard mallet onto the bar in order to avoid a rattling as the mallet and bar come into contact.

Matthias Lupri using 2 cello bows on a vibraphone with electronic pickups, Vancouver Jazz Festival 2005.

Bowing: In addition to striking the bars with mallets, the bars can be made to sound by drawing the bow of a string instrument along the edges. Since bars are fairly massive compared to strings, better results are obtained by using bows from the larger string instruments, at least a cello bow and often a double bass bow. Often a player will use two bows, one for the white bars and the other for the black. With bowing, the player is able to excite the bars directly to the pure ringing tone and eliminate many of the transient dissonant sounds that are present immediately after a mallet strikes.

Five or six mallets: In order to achieve greater density of sound and richer chord voicings, some vibraphonists have experimented with three mallets per hand, either in both hands for a total of six mallets or in just the left hand for a total of five. Results can be interesting, especially five-mallet playing where the left hand "comps" in three note voicings while the right hand plays melodic lines, similar to the popular piano technique.^[13] However, the grips tend to lead to limited musical possibilities, with little ability to adjust the interval between the outside and middle mallets and difficulties in playing hand-to-hand lines, and therefore use of five or six mallets is rare.

Other techniques: The vibraphone solo, "Mourning Dove Sonnet," composed by Christopher Deane, utilizes a four mallet grip with two cello (or bass) bows held where the outer mallets would be, with a yarn mallet for the main melodic playing and a plastic mallet for pitch bending in the inner positions.

Solo vibes videos

The large size of the vibraphone and the fast-moving mallets can create a great deal of visual interest during a vibraphone performance. Probably the best way to fully appreciate the capabilities of the vibraphone is to watch and listen to solo (unaccompanied) vibes performances. A number of high-quality solo vibes performances have been made available on the web. Here are some examples:

• Gary Burton (at http://www.vicfirth.com/artists/burton.html): On Gary's Vic Firth Artist page, there is a video where Gary talks about his signature mallets and plays a blues. Watch closely and you can see Gary using all of the mallet dampening techniques mentioned above.

• Ed Saindon (at http://www.vicfirth.com/artists/saindon.html): On Ed's Vic Firth Artist page, there are several videos recorded at the 2006 version of the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC). Performances include "Black Orpheus", "Body and Soul" and "Do You Know What it Means (to Miss New Orleans)".

• Tony Miceli (at http://larrysimprovpage.com/?q=node/48/play and http://larrysimprovpage.com/?q=node/50/play): Tony's "Quick and Dirty" videos cover topics of four-mallet technique and include performances of standard tunes such as "Come Rain or Come Shine", "Just Friends" and "Cherokee".

• Joe Locke (at http://www.joelocke.com/projects/sas.htm): The Joe Locke Quartet live at the A-Trane Jazz Club in Berlin, November 05, 2007, playing "The Rosario Material", also featuring Jonathan Kreisberg, Jay Anderson, Joe La Barbera. Joe Locke: 4-mallet style improvisation / Post-Bop style Jazz.

• Richard Szaniszlo ^[14] (at http://thejazznetwork.ning.com/video/video/show?id=1974321%3AVideo%3A173578) Hungarian jazz vibist. You can hear a beautiful unaccompanied vibes intro of his song called Storm and Rainbow. More vids at Youtube or Myspace.^[15]

Classical music and film scores featuring the vibraphone

Classical

• Alban Berg: Lulu
• Harrison Birtwistle: Endless Parade (for solo trumpet, strings and vibraphone)
• Pierre Boulez: Le marteau sans maître, Pli selon Pli
• Benjamin Britten: Spring Symphony (solo chords, with tremolo, introduce each choral stanza in the first movement)
• Mockingbird Chamber Ensemble http://mockingbird-music.com (Bach, Haydn, Corelli, Chopin, Dohnanyi, Satie, Telemann, Handel)
• Morton Feldman: Rothko Chapel
• Olivier Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony
• Olivier Messiaen: Saint-François d'Assise (Saint Francis of Assisi)
• Olivier Messiaen: Trois petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine (Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence)
• Olivier Messiaen: La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ (The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ), large 10-part chorus, piano solo, cello solo, flute solo, clarinet solo, xylorimba solo, vibraphone solo, large orchestra (1965-69)
• Lior Navok: Quintet for Vibraphone and String Quartet, [1]
• Michael Torke: "Saxophone Concerto"
• Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 14 and 15
• Igor Stravinsky: Requiem Canticles
• Philippe Manoury: Solo de Vibraphone from Le Livre de claviers (Vibraphone)

Film scores

• Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story
• Pink Floyd: film music for More.
• Benoît Charest: film music for Les Triplettes de Belleville (The Triplets of Belleville)
• Bernard Herrmann: film music for Vertigo
• Yann Tiersen: film music for Le fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain
• John Williams: film music for Catch Me If You Can
• Franck Barcellini/Alain Romans/Norbert Glanzberg: film music for Mon Oncle

Video Game themes

• Theme song for Halo 3 (One Final Effort): Martin O'Donnell