Stage 2- Final Version

Annotated Bibliography

            Neil

Banek, Reinhold, and Jon Scoville. Sound Designs. Berkeley: Ten Speed, 1980. Print. this is the book that i used as one of my first resources. it was a good first guide, but most of the information in it is obsolete by now because of its age. There is, however, some useful information about the different types of wood, how to cut them, and which ones make the best sound.

“Build Your Own Marimba and Wrap Your Own Mallets!” Instructables. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2010. . This website is perhaps the most useful to me for this project. it was the first inspiration for it, and has continued to be something that I refer to whenever I am uncertain about something, as it contains good information about everything concerning marimbas apart from the frame, which it did not give a detailed description of.

Grealy, Boyd. Personal interview. 9 Oct. 2010. Though I probably didn’t use this resource as effectively as I could have, Mr. Grealy was still helpful in learning how to construct the resonators. Because of the astronomical price of PVC pipe caps, (1-2 dollars each) it is impractical to use these as the price would be higher than the pipes themselves.. Mr. Grealy was helpful with his explanation of how this is done on the marimbas at school, specifically how to seal a cap and get the distinctive buzz of a marimba.

La Favre, Jeffery. “The La Favre 5-Octave Marimba.” The La Favre 5 Octave Marimba. N.p., 2007. Web. 15 Sept. 2010. . I used this site for several purposes: figuring out the rough dimensions of the bars and arches, figuring out the length and diameters of the resonators, and help finding the nodes of the bars. It was also an interesting demonstration of what can be done with this sort of a project given enough time and resources.

Ludin-Scheer, Bonny. “Our Bass Marimba.” Crafty Music Teachers. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2010. . this website was one of the other early ones for me. It often seems to be just a pitch for a book, but it does have some value in terms of the choices about wood, and was one of my first resources related to wrapping mallets. As well, it has interesting information pertaining to how to protect the bars of a marimba against sun and weathering.

“Marimba.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., 17 Oct. 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. . This is a very basic article on the marimba, as one would expect from Wikipedia. It is helpful, however, for providing a rough outline of the history of the marimba. It does not have information pertaining to the construction of the marimba.

McCarthy, Jim. “Project 3.” N.d. PDF file. This document is the main guide that I’m using to build the marimba. it is a semi complete guide to building a marimba, including the frame, keys, and resonators. it comes from the website www.makeamarimba.com. It is pitched as a standalone guide, however it is missing some key information about the sizes of keys and resonators.

- - -. Super Fast Marimba Building. YouTube. N.p., 29 Nov. 2007. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. . This video is a demonstration of how to build the marimba described in the previous reference. It is very useful as a companion to the above guide.

Seburn, Leonard. Personal interview. 22 Aug. 2010. One of the greatest resources available to me was Mr. Seburn. Not only did he share his substantial knowledge of woodworking (including how to use a band saw, the bets ways for sanding away wood, and how to use a planer), but he allowed me the use of his entire workshop for the tuning of the keys. He was also helpful for acquiring tools; we borrowed a planer from one of his carving friends.

Seburn, Ruth. Personal interview. 11 Aug. 2010. Though not a major source, Ruth was a resource about the different types of wool available, and the best ones to use for wrapping the mallets.