Editing Vibraphone (section)

==== Damping ====
{{Listen
| type         = music
| filename     = Vibraphone mallet dampening.ogg<!-- "Dampening" means "to make wet". -->
| title        = Vibraphone mallet damping
| description  = A C major [[Triad (music)|triad]] is held using the pedal, while an ascending [[C major|C major scale]] is played. The notes of the scale are muted by a mallet while the chord continues to ring. The vibraphone is played with the motors off.}}

Pedaling techniques are at least as important for the four-mallet vibraphonist as for two-mallet players, but the all-or-nothing damping system of the sustain pedal presents many obstacles to multi-linear playing, since each line normally has its own damping requirements independent of the other lines. To overcome this, four-mallet players also use "mallet damping" and "hand damping".<ref>{{Cite web |last=[[United States Army]] |date=2018 |title=Percussion Techniques |url=https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/tc1-19-30.pdf |publisher= |page=40}}</ref> There are many benefits of being proficient in these techniques, as it allows the player to transition between chords much more smoothly and play new notes without having them affect the [[Chord notation#Chord quality|quality]] of the chord when the pedal is down.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kuzmich |first1=John |title=Complete Guide to Instrumental Jazz Instruction: Techniques for Developing a Successful School Jazz Program |last2=Bash |first2=Lee |publisher=Parker Pub. Co |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-13-160565-7 |location=West Nyack, NY |pages=195 |oclc=10023386}}</ref>

The most common form of mallet damping occurs when the vibraphonist plays a note with one mallet before pressing another mallet into the ringing bar to stop it from sounding. Usually the damping mallet and the original striking mallet are held in different hands, but advanced players can, in some circumstances, use the same hand.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cheesman |first=Brian Scott |date=2012 |title=An Introductory Guide to Vibraphone: Four Idiomatic Practices and a Survey of Pedagogical Material and Solo Literature |url=https://aquila.usm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1563&context=dissertations |website= |publisher=[[The University of Southern Mississippi]] |page=26 |oclc=815679716}}</ref> Mallet damping also includes "dead strokes", where a player strikes a bar and then, instead of drawing the mallet back, directly presses the head of the mallet onto the bar, causing the ringing to stop immediately. This produces a fairly distinctive "choked" sound, and dead strokes are often used just for that particular sound in addition to the damping aspects.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sevsay |first=Ertuğrul |title=The Cambridge Guide to Orchestration |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |others=para. 10 |year=2013 |isbn=978-1107067486 |chapter=Vibraphone}}</ref>

Hand damping (also known as "finger damping") can be used to damp a note on the lower bars while striking a nearby upper bar. As the player strikes the upper bar with a mallet, they simultaneously press the heel of their hand or the side of their finger into the ringing lower bar, using the same hand to strike the upper bar and damp the lower one. Using both hands, it's possible to damp and strike two bars at once.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lipner |first=Arthur |title=The Vibes Real Book |publisher=MalletWorks Music |year=1996 |oclc=837860299}}</ref>