Renting a practice marimba is a great way to get started learning the marimba. Students will typically need more time to practice marimba than they have at school. Therefore, it is ideal to have access to one at home to practice. Since you don’t know if your student will stick with the marimba for long, it is a good idea to rent a beginner, 3-octave practice marimba. You can find one at your local music shop for as little as $30/month.
Popular 3-Octave Practice Marimbas
Marimba Warehouse MPM Maxey – Steve Beck started Marimba Warehouse in the early 2000’s to help bring practice marimbas available to all percussion students. He worked with professional marimbist, Linda Maxey to design the 51″‘ marimba with 1-3/4″ Padouk bars mounted on a Baltic birch frame. With thousands of these Texas-built marimbas manufactured over the last 20 years, they are readily available and have popular amongst beginner percussionists in Texas. You’ll find them for rent at Music & Arts and Texas Marimbas.
Adams Academy AMPD30 3.0 – The Adams AMPD30 Academy Series is one of the most common 3-octave marimba available for rent around the US. With the graduated-with Paduk bars, it allows students to become comfortable with the bar spacing of larger 4.3-octave marimbas. Manufactured in the Netherlands and owned by Pearl, the Adams AMPD30 it is widely distributed and available in most small music stores in your area.
DeMorrow M1 – One of the most well-designed and highest-quality 3-octave practice marimbas the DeMorrow M1 is designed and manufactured by musician and craftsman Doug Demorrow in Arkadelphia AR. The M1 features full-size graduated padauk bars designed to deliver a great sound and feel without resonators. While not readily available at most rental shops, you can find them at Texas Marimbas.
Musser M3PM – While the Musser M3PM is no longer manufactured, you can still find it for rent it at some of the smaller music rental shops. The M3PM featured 4 graduations of bars of Padauk wood for a realistic playing experience.
Majestic X5533DR – One of the most amazing sounding practice marimbas is the Majestic X5533DR with a 3.3-octave range, full-sized padauk bars, and resonators to give it an incredibly rich sound. The lightweight yet fully adjustable aluminum frame makes it easy to transport. This marimba starts at around $2500 it is one of the most expensive entry-level practice marimbas. However, the extra 1/3 octave does extend the useful life as it is possible to start learning 4-mallet exercises as the percussion student begins to play more advanced pieces.