Collection: Orff Mallets

Mallets for Orff bar instruments from SUZUKI, EMUS, KinderMallets and GMP, sized by instrument range and by head material.

Range matters more than most people expect. A soprano instrument has short, light bars and needs a light mallet. A bass xylophone or contrabass bar needs real weight behind the head or the bar will not speak. Using a soprano mallet on a bass instrument produces a thin sound, and using a bass mallet on a soprano bar risks damaging it. Mallets here are marked for soprano, alto, bass and contrabass.

Head material sets the tone and the attack. Rubber heads are the classroom default: durable, easy to control, and available in soft, medium and hard. Yarn and cord heads are wound over a rubber core and give a warmer attack, which suits metallophones and quieter playing. Felt heads are softer still and are used on metallophones and timpani.

As a rough guide, xylophones take medium to hard rubber or cord, metallophones take softer yarn or felt, and glockenspiels take small hard rubber or plastic heads because steel bars need a firm strike to ring.

Also stocked here: temple block mallets, timpani mallets and marimba mallets.