A percussion instrument that creates melodies and harmonies, created by laying different sizes of tuned wooden keys or bars on a horizontal rack.
Its name comes from the Greek prefix, xylon , which refers wood . If the bars are metal, as in the illustration of the Gamelan (below, right), the instruments are called metallophones; if made from stone; lithophones (or tuned rocks). Lithophones are more common than you might expect!
Francis Galpin describes a Rock Harmonicon carved in 1841 by quarrymen in Cumberland, England out of carved, "sonorous" stones. By varying the material and length of the wooden xylophone keys, you can change both their tone quality and pitch. Some xylophones have resonators made from gourds or metal tubes suspended below the wooden keys. Other instruments, including the Indonesian da'uli da'uli, consist of loose wooden bars laid over a hole in the ground which similarly amplifies the sound.
Xylophones were introduced to European orchestral music in the late |
19th century, in such works as Saint -Saens' "Dance Macabre" (1874). A myriad of works for other instruments have been transcribed for xylophones, from J.S. Bach's Two Part Inventions to Popular music now in orchestral and jazz ensembles throughout the west, xylophones continue to have traditional significance throughout much of Africa, Malaysia, Melanesia, Indonesia and regions of the Americas. Some large xylophones require two or three performers using up to six mallets to strike the keys.
An essential instrument in virtuosic African percussion ensembles, xylophones have been performed by the Venda, Chopi and other nations for ceremonial events and funerals. The balafon illustrated left, from Ghana, uses gourd resonators to amplify its sound. In the Congo, the wooden "malimbe" is described as having both male and female counterparts; the former has 15 wooden bars, the latter has nine. Other wooden xylophones from Indonesia, called gambang, sometimes use metal tube resonators; these instruments provide an elaborating layer of sound which decorate the melodic line in gamelan music.
The marimba is also part of an important musical tradition that extends from central Mexico to the northern part of South America. Xylophones were first brought to Latino communities by African slaves during the Spanish conquest of the 16th and 17th centuries. Marimbas that sonically and physically resemble an elongated piano keyboard were manufactured by the late 1890s. These beautiful instruments are characteristic particularly of the mountainous Chiapas region of southern Mexico; often, three or more performers play as an ensemble on one instrument. Long underappreciated elsewhere, the marimba has begun to be incorporated into mainstream classical and popular music in the United States, Canada, and Europe in recent years. The art music repertoire, of course, includes many transcriptions of piano and guitar music arranged for marimba; among the myriad of recent works written specifically for this instrument are Seiichiro Kino's "Chrono II : for marimba, flute and double bass" (1995), Julie Spencer's "Elim" (1994) and "After the Storm" and "Chelsea Widow" (1993), and Jacob Druckman's "Reflections on the Nature of Water" (1991).
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