Good vibes
This morning on NPR Weekend Edition, Liane Hansen interviewed a hip, young vibraphone player known as Lalo. It was fun to hear how she got her first chance to play this funky percussion instrument in high school. Her school actually owned one that was collecting dust in a storage room.

I love the funky mix of techno and jazz that she's created. Her first album is definitely going on my wish list.

I got to try out marimba and vibes in high school too, thanks to a student teacher who came my senior year and was a percussion specialist. I was the only mallet player in the school, so I got more than my fair share of his time. He taught me rudimentary four mallet technique and I had a blast.

I think of the two instruments, marimba is more me. Vibes can be a bit, well, tingy and loungy. Marimba feels more organic. It include a lower octave than a xylophone. You play it with these soft yarn-covered mallets and get a really mellow sound, instead of the plinky xylophone sound.

Sigh. Buying my own marimba would be really high on my list if I were to come into a fortune.

In other highlights of the day, we got to meet Daniel Silliman , who was in the area visiting relatives. I thought it was way cool that he's double majoring in philosophy and journalism. Both Joel and I got to talk shop with him. Great fun. :-)