The Stevens technique is a method of playing keyboard percussion instruments with

four percussion mallets—two in each hand. It was developed by marimba player Leigh Howard

Stevens during his studies at the Eastman School of Music in the 1970s, and codified in his 1979

book Method of Movement for Marimba. In this book, Stevens explains that the grip is an evolution

of the Musser grip.[1]:8 This mallet-gripping technique is, therefore, sometimes called the Musser-

Stevens grip.