Extended Vibraphone

Techniques in Deanes
Dis Qui Etude
By Joshua D. Smith

hristopher Deanes Dis Qui Etude

(2004) for solo vibraphone was commissioned by and dedicated to Robert
Parks, then a doctoral candidate at
the University of Kentucky in Lexington. The
title is a play on the word disquietude, which
means anxiety or agitation. Throughout the
piece, Deane requires a vibraphonist to convey
a sense of angst through the performance of
fragmented thirty-second notes, repeated fivenote groupings, and cluster chords performed at
a rapid pace.
Special Preparations

Special preparations for this piece center

on the construction of special wooden mallets,
which are made from wooden paint stirrers.
With these mallets, a performer must strike the
vibraphone in a normal manner, as well as bow
the edges of bars, strike the bars with various
sides and edges of the mallets, and perform
cluster chords. Deane used the word etude
in the title because he thought of this piece as
a first study in the use of these multi-faceted
mallets.1
Performance Considerations

Deane chose to use wooden paint stirrers in

this piece so that a performer could use mallets with a shape that would enable the cycling
among striking notes in a normal manner, bowing notes in rapid alteration, and striking with
various edges of the mallets. Deanes inspiration
to use wooden paint stirrers came from the
wooden mallets commonly used with Tibetan
singing bowlsinstruments used in ceremonies for meditation and relaxation. By rubbing
wooden mallets around the rim of a Tibetan
singing bowl, a sustained tone is produced.
Deane wanted to replicate this wood-on-metal
contact sound through the use of wooden paint
stirrers on the vibraphone. The corners and
sides of the wooden paint stirrer serve as viable
striking surfaces while the flat face of the stirrer provides a large plane that a performer can
rub across the edges of vibraphone bars, thereby
exciting the bars in the same manner as a bass
bow.
percussive notes

16 JANUARY 2010

The materials involved in mallet construction

include wooden, five-gallon paint stirrers, rubber stoppers,2 padding such as moleskin, and
masking tape. It should be noted that five-gallon paint stirrers are to be used, as opposed to
one-gallon paint stirrers. Paint stirrers used for
five-gallon paint containers are thicker, wider,
and more durable than those used for one-gallon containers, and they will better serve as
vibraphone performance implements. Additionally, the length of the finished mallet should be
approximately 18 inches, which is shorter than
the five-gallon paint stirrer in its original 21inch form. Therefore, one will have to remove
approximately three inches of the original paint
stirrer before constructing the rest of the mallet.3.
Each mallet consists of a portion to bow
across vibraphone bars and a portion with
which to strike the bars in a normal manner.
One half of a rubber stopper glued near the
top of one side of the wooden stirrer serves as
an alternative to the mallet head of a standard
vibraphone mallet.4.Down the length of the
opposite side of the wooden stirrer, a strip of
moleskin covered with masking tape serves as
the portion that is bowed across the vibraphone
bars. Successful bowing can also be achieved
with the unaltered wooden face of the paint
stirrer, without additional moleskin or masking
Figure 1

tape. Deane experimented with these various

forms of padding in an effort to reduce the initial contact sound of the wooden face touching
the vibraphone bar.
Deanes goal was for a performer to use
mallets that were unique, homemade, and that
could functionally provide a wide spectrum of
performance options.5 An illustration of the
side and bottom views of the completed mallets
is shown in Figure 1.
From the onset, Dis Qui Etude delivers a
feeling of uniqueness, due to the opening notes
being played with the bottom, or butt ends,
of the mallets. Optimal sounds are produced
by dropping the butt ends of the mallets onto
the vibraphone bars and immediately catching
them after contact has been made. In the printed music, Deane visually separates notes that
are played with the rubber stopper from notes
played in an alternative method by placing the
two sets of notes on separate staves. In mm.12,
as illustrated in Figure 2, notes that are played
with the butt end are shown on a top staff while
notes performed in a traditional manner are
shown on the bottom staff.
The first time Deane calls for bowing is in
m.14. As shown in Figure 3, Deane calls for a
bowing motion with an articulated cessation of
sound, which is indicated with an x symbol in
place of the notehead. One can easily accom-

Figure 2

plish this technique by using his or her thumb

as a stopping point along the bowing plane of
the mallets.
While in m.14 Deane presents bowings
mixed with stopped sounds, there are instances
Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

in this piece where Deane requires the bowed

notes to resonate. Deane notates these bowing
methods in an identical way to the notations
used in Mourning Dove Sonnet. Since the
mallets used in Dis Qui Etude are consider-

ably shorter than contrabass bows, a performer

must press the mallets against the vibraphone
bars with enough force to excite the bars quickly. Otherwise, one will run the risk of running
out of room on the mallets before the bowed
sound is fully produced.
Figure 4 illustrates m.28, where Deane calls
for the performer to play the bars in the normal
playing areas with the thin edge tip of the
mallet, which is the upper corner of the paint
stirrer. By striking the bars in this manner,
one can produce a more articulated sound, as
compared to the sounds produced from bowing
or striking with the rubber stopper. Deane first
establishes this sound in conjunction with repeated five-note groupings. By introducing this
articulated sound coupled with dense rhythmic
groupings, Deane creates a musical gesture that
properly serves the anxious character of the
piece.
To further contribute to the agitated character of this piece, Deane calls for the performance of cluster chords with the long edge,
or shaft, of the wooden paint stirrer. This is
accomplished by turning the mallet sideways
in ones hands and striking the vibraphone bars
with the full length of the mallet edge. This
first appears in the second portion of m.29, illustrated in Figure 5. Here, Deane notates the
cluster chords with emphasis on the lowest note
to be played, and with an arrow pointing up,
indicating where the remainder of the wooden
shaft should be positioned. This performance
technique stands in contrast to the music that
surrounds it and further contributes to the
disturbed spirit of the piece. Throughout this
piece, the performer must have full command
of the ways to properly manipulate the mallets
through striking or bowing the vibraphone bars,
as well as how to quickly and effortlessly transition between these techniques.
In m.55, the performer is directed to shift
the striking portion of the mallet from the
thin edge tip to the wide edge tip. One can
easily achieve this technique by turning his or
her hands over while playing, which will alter
the striking surface from the corner to the wide
tip, or top, of the mallet. This shift dramatically
changes the sonic properties of the notes being
played. This section of music is illustrated in
Figure 6.
As the piece comes to a close, Deane introduces three additional performance techniques.
The first appears in m.60, where the performer
is required to strike the outside edges of vibraphone bars with the thin shaft of the mallet, illustrated in Figure 7. This technique produces a
percussive notes

17 JANUARY 2010

very thin sound, as the upper harmonics of the

note ring more prominently. This sound stands
in contrast to the sound that results from striking the middle of the bars, as is required earlier
in the piece. Through this performance method,
a vibraphonist is able to articulate sounds that
have dynamic presence while lacking the timbral depth that comes from the presence of the
fundamental frequencies of the note.
In m.61, as seen in Figure 8, Deane exploits
the shape of the mallets by requiring the performer to produce a one-handed trill. This is accomplished by holding the middle of the mallet
and see-sawing, or rocking the mallet so that
the thin edge tip of both ends strike the two
pitches indicated. By using the mallets in this
way, Deane achieves a double-note sustain with
only one mallet.
The piece concludes with the performer
scraping the bar ends at a 45-degree angle with
the thin edge shaft of the mallet, which begins
at m.62, illustrated in Figure 9. This technique
is similar to bowing the bars, in that one must
slide a portion of the length of the mallet across

the edges of the bars. However, differences

exist between this technique and the bowing
techniques found earlier in the piece. By positioning the mallet at an angle of 45 degrees, as
opposed to a 90-degree angle, one is not able
to produce the same amount of volume when
sliding the mallet across the bar edge. Equally,
the markedly smaller sectionthe thin edge
shaftthat bows across the bar does not allow
for as much volume as does the wide face of the
mallet, which is used earlier in the piece. As a
result, the sounds produced by this performance
method are faint and ethereal.
Deane presents these notes in opposition
to the music that exists in the beginning of
the piece. Through this ending, Deane is able
to produce a musical sensation of calm from
a work that predominantly conveys a musical
sense of unrest and tension.
Christopher Deane treats extended performance techniques with such creativity and
effectiveness that he successfully showcases a
voice of the vibraphone that is both interesting
and musically rewarding for both performer

Figure 8

Dis Qui Etude by Christopher Deane

Copyright 2004 by Christopher Deane
All Rights Reserved. Musical examples used by permission.

ENDNOTES
1. Christopher Deane, interview by author, Denton,
Texas, April 22, 2008.
2. The solid rubber stoppers used are commonly
referred to as solid #4 (size number, measuring
one inch tall by 25/32-inch wide) rubber stoppers,
and are typically used to plug bottles, pipes, or
scientific laboratory vials and beakers.
3. The dimensions of the completed mallet should be
18 inches long, 1 1/16 inches wide, and 1/4 inch
thick.
4. This stopper should be glued 3/8 inch down from
the tip of the wooden stirrer.
5. Christopher Deane, interview by author, Denton,
Texas, April 22, 2008.

Joshua D. Smith teaches percussion at Texas

Womans University and John H. Guyer High
School in Denton, Texas. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University
of North Texas, a Masters of Music Performance degree from James Madison University,
and a Bachelor of Music Education degree
from the University of Kentucky. Smiths teaching career includes both public school and UniPN
versity adjunct experience.

Figure 9

Salazar use Feb 08 Ad

percussive notes

and listener. It is my continued hope that the

information presented in this article and the
previous two (Percussive Notes, February 2009
and April 2009) will compel percussionists to
explore Deanes writing with a greater understanding of the techniques required to perform
them successfully.

18 JANUARY 2010