I'm looking to build my chops up to perform my xylophone solo, Charleston Capers; any ideas on how to increase speed and strengthen your chops?

I'm not too familiar with that solo, but in general a good way of building 2 mallet chops is warming up with some kind of octave 8th note exercise with the met. A good place to start is around quarter=80, then gradually move the met up to your fastest speed. Obviously the mallets will get lower as you get faster. Then you can do the same with scale exercises in every key.  This needs to be done every single day to actually build chops. Over time you will get faster and more relaxed/efficient.

Since this is a green solo, there are probably applicable exercises in the green method book, ";Instruction course for xylophone";

Along the same lines of what Charlie said, go through a variety of stickings, since you need to be strong in alternating and double stickings, and combinations of both.

And if it's a typical rag, practice lots of flam accents and Swiss triplets (RH and LH) ;)

Absolutely. One key to having the chops to play these xylophone rags is having ";drum chops."; Pull out the practice pad, and work on those flam rudiments and that'll certainly help your rags.

And don't forget to practice those flam rudiments with some swing too! ;)

Practice them on a pillow, not a pad, because xylophone mallets don't bounce.

[quote author=Joe link=topic=3466.msg18283#msg18283 date=1262186656]
Practice them on a pillow, not a pad, because xylophone mallets don't bounce.
[/quote]

Well, they do, just not as much as a pad. Certainly more than a marimba depending on mallets used. Back in drum corps I used to use my Mallets on the neoprene side of a practice pad. You get great articulation and feels just like a mallet instrument.