While at university I learnt the basic theory of how percussion instruments are constructed and how the parts work together. However, no one ever really taught me how to repair my instruments when they broke. The vast majority of what I know now is self-taught, gained through trial and error and repetition. And it’s that repetition I’d like to focus on today. While there are certainly skills I still want to learn, there are some tuned instrument repair jobs I’ve completed so often that I could do them in my sleep!

So, here’s to some of the most common mallet percussion fixes!