Ahhhhh, music to calm the savage beast.
About a year ago, I built this marimba for music therapist, Leslie Meadows, in Akron, Ohio. It is a 7 note marimba using the pentatonic scale in the key of G. The notes are d, e, g, a, b, d, and e. One of the nice thing about this marimba is it’s small size. It stands 8″ tall. However, if you want to use it on your lap, the box resonator comes off so you just have the frame with the bars on it.
Although this is geared more for music therapists, anyone can use it. Another nice feature of this marimba is the fact that if you are playing in the key of G, you can’t hit a wrong note. That’s why music therapists love it. You can play chords on the guitar in the key of G and the marimbaist (is that a word?) can improvise a melody with no wrong notes. You may think that with only seven notes, eventually you would run out of ideas, but the possibilities really are endless.
Here is a short 7 second video of a g pentatonic marimba as described above. This will give you an idea of what this marimba sounds like. I would suggest that you listen to it with earphones or headphones to give you a better idea of what it really sounds like.