Welcome to the Marimba Sass Blog. My name is Jeff Sass and I am a marimbist.
What is a marimba? A marimba is a percussion instrument with chromatically arranged wooden bars and organ-like resonators. The marimba can be played with yarn or rubber mallets and produces a warm, deep, rich sound. There are many marimba manufacturers and I currently own a 5-octave Marimba One marimba made in Arcata, Califormia, as well as a 4.3 octave DeMorrow marimba made in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
I have a Computer Science/Mathematics major with a Fine Arts Minor from Drake University and a Masters Degree in Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis. I work at Adobe as one of the Photoshop Engineering Managers as well as act as the Percussionist in Residence at Faith Lutheran Church. I am also a freelance percussionist in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and enjoy playing percussion for Broadway musicals.
This blog is devoted to a more detailed discussion of marimba topics that are too long to “tweet” about on Twitter where I post under the name jeffsass. I have also started a YouTube channel called marimbasass where I will be posting marimba videos.
Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments!
I see in your bio you went to Drake. When were you a student there? I studied there for one year in the early 80’s with Larry Kaptain before transferring.
Hi Jay,
Thanks for stopping by the blog! I was there from 1992-1996 and studied under Robert Muenier (http://artsci.drake.edu/Music_Dept/faculty/meunier.html) who is still teaching at Drake today.
-Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Would like your help if possible. There is a beat made by a friend and I really like the sample he uses. I thinks its from an old Marimba song.
However he made it a couple of years ago and cant remember the song he got the sample from , so I’m stuck with just this small segment looping in my mind.
Could you take a listen and see if you know the track.
https://soundcloud.com/borat1/st-bb294
Cheers!
Hi Michael,
Sorry I don’t recognize that. It sounds like it is from pop music but it isn’t one that I have heard and it isn’t from one of the standard classical marimba pieces that I know.
I like it though! I am really sorry I couldn’t help out and thanks for stopping by!
-Jeff
Cheers and thanks for your time. I will keep hunting.
All the best
Michael
Great blog Jeff! One of our favorite instruments – the marimba. Joshua is our percussionist and hoping to have him play marimba for solo/ensemble grp.
Thanks Kevin for stopping by. Let me know if I can help out Joshua in any way.
-Jeff
Hi Jeff:
I’m seeking your help as a 1992 alumnus of Beloit Memorial HS and contact for BMHS 1992 class reunions–that IS correct, isn’t it? If so, please call or email me so I can explain more about my request. Thanks.
Jack
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