Range
There is no standard range of the marimba, but the most common ranges are 4 octaves, 4.3 octaves and 5 octaves; 4.5, 4.6 and 5.5 octave sizes are also available.
- 4 octave: C3 to C7.
- 4.3 octave: A2 to C7. The 3 refers to three notes below the 4 octave instrument. This is the most common range.
- 4.5 octave: F2 to C7. The .5 means "half";
- 4.6 octave: E2 to C7, one note below the 4.5. Useful for playing guitar literature and transcriptions.
- 5 octave: C2 to C7, one full octave below the 4 octave instrument, useful for playing cello trascriptions e.g. Bach's cello suites.
- Bass range (varies, but examples range from G1-G3 or C2-F3)
The range of the marimba has been gradually expanding, with companies like Marimba One adding notes up to F above the normal high C (C7) on their 5.5 octave instrument, or marimba tuners adding notes lower than the low C on the 5 octave C2. Adding lower notes is somewhat impractical; as the bars become bigger and the resonators become longer, the instrument must be taller and the mallets must be heavier in order to produce a tone rather than just a percussive attack. Adding higher notes is also impractical because the hardness of the mallets required to produce the characteristic tone of a marimba are much too hard to play with in almost any other, lower range on the instrument.
The marimba is a non-transposing instrument with no octave displacement, unlike the xylophone which sounds one octave higher than written and the glockenspiel which sounds two octaves higher than written.
Read more about this topic: Marimba
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