Marimba is much more of a wood-type experience and there is no real possibility of getting a dry sound, and getting that contrast in the same way that you can in a vibraphone.

This remark comes from Evelyn Glennie’s practical, performer-centered way of describing percussion instruments in terms of touch, resonance, and timbral control. In interviews and educational discussions, she often compares mallet instruments by how their materials and construction shape the player’s ability to articulate notes and create contrast. Here she contrasts the marimba’s inherently warm, resonant “wood” character—produced by wooden bars and their overtone profile—with the vibraphone’s more controllable sustain and articulation, aided by metal bars and damping techniques. The statement reflects a musician speaking from hands-on experience about the limits and possibilities each instrument offers in performance and recording.

Glennie is contrasting the inherent timbral and articulatory possibilities of two mallet instruments. The marimba’s wooden bars and resonators tend to produce a warm, rounded, sustained “woody” bloom that resists becoming truly “dry” (i.e., short, clipped, low-resonance) without fundamentally changing the instrument’s character. By comparison, the vibraphone’s metal bars, motor-driven tremolo, and especially its damper pedal allow a player to shape resonance and articulation more dramatically—moving between ringing sustain and sharply muted, percussive attacks. The remark highlights how instrument construction sets expressive boundaries and why performers choose one instrument over another for particular contrasts in color and phrasing.