A Marimba Story

May 7, 2023

The back of the minivan is no longer empty!!!!

A couple of trip insights:

-Canadians drive FAST!!

-When trying to keep up with the flow of traffic, the minivan shakes. And it doesn’t have air conditioning!-The windfarm on the 402 is magestic.

-Blue Water, Michigan is beautiful and calming.

-I was meant to have a marimba.

A friend asked today why I was driving 12 hours in a day to get an instrument I don’t even play.

Great question. I would love to tell you.

At the beginning of April, I was listening to a song that I have heard a million times before and all I could hear was the beautiful marimba. And all I wanted to do was play along with the song.

My hands could feel the mallets in my fingers and my body wanted to move in the rhythm of the song. I have been trying to listen to my body and intuition more. And it was speaking clearly.

I explored a couple of different ideas to find a marimba to play but none of them worked out. I have been keeping a little money stashed away but didn’t know what it was for and decided to look into buying one.

Please remember, I really know almost nothing about the world of marimbas except I love the sound and want to learn.

I was asked - How many octaves do you want? What type of bars do you want - rosewood or synthetic? Do you want a practice one? Where are you going to put it?

I began researching.

Musical friends checked in with connections they had.

I called a local pipe organ building company who was very kind but could not take on the project of building a marimba for me.

I found out about a National marimba repair person. Mallet percussionists across the country ship their instruments to him for repair. I wondered if he had any used ones for sale so I looked him up. Guess what?!?! His shop is one mile from my house!!!!!!

I found the company that specializes in selling marimbas in our country so I looked them up. Guess what?!?!? They are located in the town next to my grandparents home in Pennsylvania.

At this point, I knew I was meant to have a marimba, but I had not come across one that fit what I was looking for.

And then, I came across one in Michigan. I didn’t message the seller right away. I just kept watching the listing for a few weeks. And last week I just knew it was the one.

I met the lovely family of the owner today. The woman who owned it played the violin and piano and bought the marimba around 1948 in Detroit around the time she graduated from high school just for fun. She played it through her adult years and recently passed away. I met her daughter who was a fifth grade teacher. It all just feels meant to be.

Does all this seem a little impulsive? Ridiculous? Maybe. But also, right for me right now.

I feel honored to have this special instrument. I am excited to learn how to play and share it with others.