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Wikipedia

Xylophone

The xylophone (from Ancient Greek ξύλον (xúlon) 'wood', and φωνή (phōnḗ) 'sound, voice';[1][2] lit.'sound of wood') is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African and Asian instruments, diatonic in many western children's instruments, or chromatic for orchestral use.

Xylophone
Percussion instrument
Classification Percussion
Hornbostel–Sachs classification111.212
(Set of percussion sticks)
Developed9th century
Playing range
Sounds from C4 to C8, written from C3 to C7
Related instruments
balafon, txalaparta, laggutu, marimba
Xylophone with different types of mallets

The term xylophone may be used generally, to include all such instruments such as the marimba, balafon and even the semantron. However, in the orchestra, the term xylophone refers specifically to a chromatic instrument of somewhat higher pitch range and drier timbre than the marimba, and these two instruments should not be confused. A person who plays the xylophone is known as a xylophonist or simply a xylophone player.[3]

The term is also popularly used to refer to similar instruments of the lithophone and metallophone types. For example, the Pixiphone and many similar toys described by the makers as xylophones have bars of metal rather than of wood, and so are in organology regarded as glockenspiels rather than as xylophones.

Construction of xylophones

 
Cameroon, ~1914

The modern western xylophone has bars of rosewood, padauk, cocobolo, or various synthetic materials such as fiberglass or fiberglass-reinforced plastic which allows a louder sound.[4] Some can be as small a range as 2+12 octaves but concert xylophones are typically 3+12 or 4 octaves. Like the glockenspiel, the xylophone is a transposing instrument: its parts are written one octave below the sounding notes.[5]

Concert xylophones have tube resonators below the bars to enhance the tone and sustain. Frames are made of wood or cheap steel tubing: more expensive xylophones feature height adjustment and more stability in the stand. In other music cultures some versions have gourds[4] that act as Helmholtz resonators. Others are "trough" xylophones with a single hollow body that acts as a resonator for all the bars.[6] Old methods consisted of arranging the bars on tied bundles of straw, and, is still practiced today, placing the bars adjacent to each other in a ladder-like layout. Ancient mallets were made of willow wood with spoon-like bowls on the beaten ends.[4]

Mallets

Xylophones should be played with very hard rubber, polyball, or acrylic mallets. Sometimes medium to hard rubber mallets, very hard core, or yarn mallets are used for softer effects. Lighter tones can be created on xylophones by using wooden-headed mallets made from rosewood, ebony, birch, or other hard woods.

History

The instrument has obscure ancient origins. Nettl proposed that it originated in southeast Asia and came to Africa c. AD 500 when a group of Malayo-Polynesian speaking peoples migrated to Africa, and compared East African xylophone orchestras and Javanese and Balinese gamelan orchestras.[7]: 18–19, 100  This was more recently challenged by ethnomusicologist and linguist Roger Blench who posits an independent origin in of the Xylophone in Africa, citing, among the evidence for local invention, distinct features of African xylophones and the greater variety of xylophone types and proto-xylophone-like instruments in Africa.[8]

Asian xylophone

The earliest evidence of a true xylophone is from the 9th century in southeast Asia, while a similar hanging wood instrument, a type of harmonicon, is said by the Vienna Symphonic Library to have existed in 2000 BC in what is now part of China. The xylophone-like ranat was used in Hindu regions (kashta tharang). In Indonesia, few regions have their own type of xylophones. In North Sumatra, The Toba Batak people use wooden xylophones known as the Garantung (spelled: "garattung"). Java and Bali use xylophones (called gambang, Rindik and Tingklik) in gamelan ensembles. They still have traditional significance in Malaysia, Melanesia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and regions of the Americas. In Myanmar, the xylophone is known as Pattala and is typically made of bamboo.

African xylophone

The term marimba is also applied to various traditional folk instruments such as the West Africa balafon. Early forms were constructed of bars atop a gourd.[9] The wood is first roasted around a fire before shaping the key to achieve the desired tone. The resonator is tuned to the key through careful choice of size of resonator, adjustment of the diameter of the mouth of the resonator using wasp wax and adjustment of the height of the key above the resonator. A skilled maker can produce startling amplification. The mallets used to play dibinda and mbila have heads made from natural rubber taken from a wild creeping plant.[10] "Interlocking" or alternating rhythm features in Eastern African xylophone music such as that of the Makonde dimbila, the Yao mangolongondo or the Shirima mangwilo in which the opachera, the initial caller, is responded to by another player, the wakulela.[11] This usually doubles an already rapid rhythmic pulse that may also co-exist with a counter-rhythm.

 
Timbila

Mbila

The mbila (plural "timbila") is associated with the Chopi people of the Inhambane Province, in southern Mozambique.[10] It is not to be confused with the mbira. The style of music played on it is believed to be the most sophisticated method of composition yet found among preliterate peoples.[12] The gourd-resonated, equal-ratio heptatonic-tuned mbila of Mozambique is typically played in large ensembles in a choreographed dance, perhaps depicting a historical drama. Ensembles consist of around ten xylophones of three or four sizes. A full orchestra would have two bass instruments called gulu with three or four wooden keys played standing up using heavy mallets with solid rubber heads, three tenor dibinda, with ten keys and played seated, and the mbila itself, which has up to nineteen keys of which up to eight may be played simultaneously. The gulu uses gourds and the mbila and dibinda Masala apple shells as resonators. They accompany the dance with long compositions called ngomi or mgodo and consist of about 10 pieces of music grouped into 4 separate movements, with an overture, in different tempos and styles. The ensemble leader serves as poet, composer, conductor and performer, creating a text, improvising a melody partially based on the features of the Chopi tone language and composing a second contrapuntal line. The musicians of the ensemble partially improvise their parts. The composer then consults with the choreographer of the ceremony and adjustments are made.[7] The longest and most important of these is the "Mzeno" which will include a song telling of an issue of local importance or even making fun of a prominent figure in the community![10] Performers include Eduardo Durão and Venancio Mbande.[10][13][14]

Gyil

The gyil (English: /ˈɪlə, l/) is a pentatonic instrument common to the Gur-speaking populations in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and Ivory Coast in West Africa. The Gyil is the primary traditional instrument of the Dagara people of northern Ghana and Burkina Faso, and of the Lobi of Ghana, southern Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. The gyil is usually played in pairs, accompanied by a calabash gourd drum called a kuor. It can also be played by one person with the drum and the stick part as accompaniment, or by a soloist. Gyil duets are the traditional music of Dagara funerals. The instrument is generally played by men, who learn to play while young, however, there is no restriction on gender.

The Gyil's design is similar to the Balaba or Balafon used by the Mande-speaking Bambara, Dyula and Sosso peoples further west in southern Mali and western Burkina Faso, a region that shares many musical traditions with those of northern Ivory Coast and Ghana. It is made with 14 wooden keys of an African hardwood called liga attached to a wooden frame, below which hang calabash gourds.[15] Spider web silk covers small holes in the gourds to produce a buzzing sound and antelope sinew and leather are used for the fastenings.[15] The instrument is played with rubber-headed wooden mallets.

Silimba

 
A silimba in a Zambian market

The silimba is a xylophone developed by Lozi people in Barotseland, western Zambia.[16] The tuned keys are tied atop resonating gourds.[17] The silimba, or shinjimba, is used by the Nkoya people of Western Zambia at traditional royal ceremonies like the Kazanga Nkoya. The silimba is an essential part of the folk music traditions of the Lozi people and can be heard at their annual Kuomboka ceremony. The shilimba is now used in most parts of Zambia.

Akadinda, amadinda and mbaire

The akadinda and the amadinda are xylophone-like instruments originating in Buganda, in modern-day Uganda.[18] The amadinda is made of twelve logs which are tuned in a pentatonic scale. It mainly is played by three players. Two players sit opposite of each other and play the same logs in an interlocking technique in a fast tempo. It has no gourd resonators or buzzing tone, two characteristics of many other African xylophones.[19]

The amadinda was an important instrument at the royal court in Buganda, a Ugandan kingdom. A special type of notation is now used for this xylophone, consisting of numbers for and periods.[20] as is also the case with the embaire, a type of xylophone originating in southern Uganda.[20]

Balo

The balo (balenjeh, behlanjeh) is used among the Mandinka people of West Africa. Its keys are mounted on gourds, and struck with mallets with rubber tips. The players typically wear iron cylinders and rings attached to their hands so that they jingle as they play.[21]

Western xylophone

 
Orchestral xylophone (left) and marimba (right)

The earliest mention of a xylophone in Europe was in Arnolt Schlick's Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten (1511), where it is called hültze glechter ("wooden clatter").[22][23] There follow other descriptions of the instrument, though the term "xylophone" is not used until the 1860s.[24] The instrument was associated largely with the folk music of Central Europe, notably Poland and eastern Germany. An early version appeared in Slovakia[7]: 98  and the earliest reference to a similar instrument came in the 14th century.[25]

The first use of a European orchestral xylophone was in Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre, in 1874.[4] By that time, the instrument had already been popularized to some extent by Michael Josef Gusikov,[26] whose instrument was the five-row xylophone made of 28 crude wooden bars arranged in semitones in the form of a trapezoid and resting on straw supports. There were no resonators and it was played fast with spoon-shaped sticks. According to musicologist Curt Sachs, Gusikov performed in garden concerts, variety shows, and as a novelty act at symphony concerts.

The western xylophone was used by early jazz bands and in vaudeville. Its bright, lively sound worked well the syncopated dance music of the 1920s and 1930s. Red Norvo, George Cary, George Hamilton Green, Teddy Brown and Harry Breuer were well-known users. As time passed, the xylophone was exceeded in popularity by the metal-key vibraphone, which was developed in the 1920s. A xylophone with a range extending downwards into the marimba range is called a xylorimba.

In orchestral scores, a xylophone can be indicated by the French claquebois, German Holzharmonika (literally "wooden harmonica"), or Italian silofono.[23] Shostakovich was particularly fond of the instrument; it has prominent roles in much of his work, including most of his symphonies and his Cello Concerto No. 2. Modern xylophone players include Bob Becker, Evelyn Glennie and Ian Finkel.

In the United States, there are Zimbabwean marimba bands in particularly high concentration in the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, and New Mexico, but bands exist from the East Coast through California and even to Hawaii and Alaska. The main event for this community is ZimFest, the annual Zimbabwean Music Festival. The bands are composed of instruments from high sopranos, through to lower soprano, tenor, baritone, and bass. Resonators are usually made with holes covered by thin cellophane (similar to the balafon) to achieve the characteristic buzzing sound. The repertoires of U.S. bands tends to have a great overlap, due to the common source of the Zimbabwean musician Dumisani Maraire, who was the key person who first brought Zimbabwean music to the West, coming to the University of Washington in 1968.

Use in elementary education

 
Three Orff-Schulwerk xylophones of different ranges.

Many music educators use xylophones as a classroom resource to assist children's musical development. One method noted for its use of xylophones is Orff-Schulwerk, which combines the use of instruments, movement, singing and speech to develop children's musical abilities.[27] Xylophones used in American general music classrooms are smaller, at about 1+12 octaves, than the 2+12 or more octave range of performance xylophones. The bass xylophone ranges are written from middle C to A an octave higher but sound one octave lower than written. The alto ranges are written from middle C to A an octave higher and sound as written. The soprano ranges are written from middle C to A an octave higher but sound one octave higher than written.[28]

According to Andrew Tracey, marimbas were introduced to Zimbabwe in 1960.[16] Zimbabwean marimba based upon Shona music has also become popular in the West, which adopted the original use of these instruments to play transcriptions of mbira dzavadzimu (as well as nyunga nyunga and matepe) music. The first of these transcriptions had originally been used for music education in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean instruments are often in a diatonic C major scale, which allows them to be played with a 'western-tuned' mbira (G nyamaropa), sometimes with an added F key placed inline.

Famous solo works

  • "Concertino for Xylophone" by Mayuzumi
  • "Scherzo For Xylophone and Piano" by Ptaczinska
  • "Robin Harry" by Inns
  • "Tambourin Chinoise" by Kreisler

Famous orchestral excerpts

See also

Citations

  1. ^ ξύλον, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  2. ^ φωνή, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  3. ^ . Lexico Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d "How xylophone is made". Madehow.com. 26 June 2000. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  5. ^ Cook, Gary D. (1997). Teaching Percussion (Second ed.). Belmont, California: Schirmer Books, Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
  6. ^ "Percussion > Mallets > Xylophone > History". Vsl.co.at. Vienna Symphonic Library. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  7. ^ a b c Nettl, Bruno (1956). Music in Primitive Culture. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674590007.
  8. ^ Blench, Roger (1 November 2012). "Using diverse sources of evidence for reconstructing the prehistory of musical exchanges in the Indian Ocean and their broader significance for cultural prehistory". African Archaeological Review. special issue: 7–11. doi:10.1007/s10437-014-9178-z. S2CID 162200224.
  9. ^ "Annotated Checklist of Musical Instruments From Sub-Saharan Africa on Display in the NMM's Beede Gallery". National Music Museum. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  10. ^ a b c d "Music of Mozambique: Information from". Answers.com. 25 November 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  11. ^ Kubik, Gerhard; Robotham, Donald Keith (27 January 2012). "African music – musical structure". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  12. ^ Mitchell, Barry (14 January 2008). "Theory of Music". Theoryofmusic.wordpress.com. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  13. ^ "African Heartbeats". pointofdeparture.org. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  14. ^ Romney, Jonathan (5 March 1991). "Timbila album review". Q Magazine. 55: 68.
  15. ^ a b Harper, Colter (2008). "Life, Death, and Music in West Africa". Contexts Magazine. Winter: 44–51. doi:10.1525/ctx.2008.7.1.44. S2CID 59623412.
  16. ^ a b Tracey, Andrew (26 May 2004). "Marimbas History". kalimba.co.za. Andrew Tracey and Christian Carver.
  17. ^ "~Zambia~". Zambiatourism.com. 21 December 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  18. ^ "akadinda (musical instrument)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 27 April 2009.
  19. ^ "xylophone (musical instrument)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
  20. ^ a b "African music :: Interlocking". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
  21. ^ . Royal Commonwealth Society Library. Cambridge University Library. University of Cambridge. 5 November 2004. Archived from the original on 27 June 2007.
  22. ^ "History – The world of wooden mallet instruments". Vsl.co.at. Vienna Symphonic Library. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  23. ^ a b Anderson, Lois Ann; et al. (2001). "Xylophone". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
  24. ^ "xylophone". Oxford English Dictionary (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. 1989. 7 April 1866 edition of the Athenaeum: 'A prodigy ... who does wonderful things with little drumsticks on a machine of wooden keys, called the 'xylophone'.'
    "Leaves for the Little Ones". The Ladies' Companion. Rogerson and Tuxford: 152. 1865. ...and Master Bonnay, on the Xylophone, is always recalled. Both citations refer to the performance of a child prodigy, Sunbury.
  25. ^ . Concertgoersguide.org. Oregon Symphony Players Association. Archived from the original on 13 August 2007. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  26. ^ Michael Joseph Guzikow Archives 30 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  27. ^ "American Orff-Schulwerk Association". Aosa.org. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  28. ^ Keetman, Gunild; Orff, Carl (1958). Orff-Schulwerk Music for Children. Translated by Margaret Murray. London: Schott & Co. Ltd.

Additional sources

  • Paco, Celso (2000). "A Luta Continua". In Broughton, Simon; Ellingham, Mark; McConnachie, James; Duane, Orla (eds.). World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Rough Guides Ltd., Penguin Books. pp. 579–584. ISBN 1-85828-636-0.
  • Tracey, Hugh (1948). Chopi Musicians: their Music, Poetry, and Instruments (1970 ed.). London: International African Institute and Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197241820.
  • Hallis, Ron; Hallis, Ophera (1987). (16 mm video; 28 minutes). Archived from the original on 20 July 2011.
  • Mgodo Wa Mbanguzi. Chopi village in southern Mozambique: Gei Zantzinger and Andrew Tracey.

External links

  •   Media related to Xylophones at Wikimedia Commons
  • Schlesinger, Kathleen (1911). "Xylophone" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). p. 889.

xylophone, xylophone, from, ancient, greek, ξύλον, xúlon, wood, φωνή, phōnḗ, sound, voice, sound, wood, musical, instrument, percussion, family, that, consists, wooden, bars, struck, mallets, like, glockenspiel, which, uses, metal, bars, xylophone, essentially. The xylophone from Ancient Greek 3ylon xulon wood and fwnh phōnḗ sound voice 1 2 lit sound of wood is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets Like the glockenspiel which uses metal bars the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African and Asian instruments diatonic in many western children s instruments or chromatic for orchestral use XylophonePercussion instrumentClassificationPercussionHornbostel Sachs classification111 212 Set of percussion sticks Developed9th centuryPlaying rangeSounds from C4 to C8 written from C3 to C7Related instrumentsbalafon txalaparta laggutu marimbaXylophone with different types of mallets A jingle played on a xylophone marimba source source source A gamelan xylophone source source Problems playing these files See media help The term xylophone may be used generally to include all such instruments such as the marimba balafon and even the semantron However in the orchestra the term xylophone refers specifically to a chromatic instrument of somewhat higher pitch range and drier timbre than the marimba and these two instruments should not be confused A person who plays the xylophone is known as a xylophonist or simply a xylophone player 3 The term is also popularly used to refer to similar instruments of the lithophone and metallophone types For example the Pixiphone and many similar toys described by the makers as xylophones have bars of metal rather than of wood and so are in organology regarded as glockenspiels rather than as xylophones Contents 1 Construction of xylophones 2 Mallets 3 History 3 1 Asian xylophone 3 2 African xylophone 3 2 1 Mbila 3 2 2 Gyil 3 2 3 Silimba 3 2 4 Akadinda amadinda and mbaire 3 2 5 Balo 3 3 Western xylophone 4 Use in elementary education 5 Famous solo works 6 Famous orchestral excerpts 7 See also 8 Citations 9 Additional sources 10 External linksConstruction of xylophones Edit Cameroon 1914 The modern western xylophone has bars of rosewood padauk cocobolo or various synthetic materials such as fiberglass or fiberglass reinforced plastic which allows a louder sound 4 Some can be as small a range as 2 1 2 octaves but concert xylophones are typically 3 1 2 or 4 octaves Like the glockenspiel the xylophone is a transposing instrument its parts are written one octave below the sounding notes 5 Concert xylophones have tube resonators below the bars to enhance the tone and sustain Frames are made of wood or cheap steel tubing more expensive xylophones feature height adjustment and more stability in the stand In other music cultures some versions have gourds 4 that act as Helmholtz resonators Others are trough xylophones with a single hollow body that acts as a resonator for all the bars 6 Old methods consisted of arranging the bars on tied bundles of straw and is still practiced today placing the bars adjacent to each other in a ladder like layout Ancient mallets were made of willow wood with spoon like bowls on the beaten ends 4 Mallets EditXylophones should be played with very hard rubber polyball or acrylic mallets Sometimes medium to hard rubber mallets very hard core or yarn mallets are used for softer effects Lighter tones can be created on xylophones by using wooden headed mallets made from rosewood ebony birch or other hard woods History Edit Kulintang a Kayo a Philippine xylophone The instrument has obscure ancient origins Nettl proposed that it originated in southeast Asia and came to Africa c AD 500 when a group of Malayo Polynesian speaking peoples migrated to Africa and compared East African xylophone orchestras and Javanese and Balinese gamelan orchestras 7 18 19 100 This was more recently challenged by ethnomusicologist and linguist Roger Blench who posits an independent origin in of the Xylophone in Africa citing among the evidence for local invention distinct features of African xylophones and the greater variety of xylophone types and proto xylophone like instruments in Africa 8 Asian xylophone Edit The earliest evidence of a true xylophone is from the 9th century in southeast Asia while a similar hanging wood instrument a type of harmonicon is said by the Vienna Symphonic Library to have existed in 2000 BC in what is now part of China The xylophone like ranat was used in Hindu regions kashta tharang In Indonesia few regions have their own type of xylophones In North Sumatra The Toba Batak people use wooden xylophones known as the Garantung spelled garattung Java and Bali use xylophones called gambang Rindik and Tingklik in gamelan ensembles They still have traditional significance in Malaysia Melanesia Indonesia Thailand Myanmar and regions of the Americas In Myanmar the xylophone is known as Pattala and is typically made of bamboo African xylophone Edit The term marimba is also applied to various traditional folk instruments such as the West Africa balafon Early forms were constructed of bars atop a gourd 9 The wood is first roasted around a fire before shaping the key to achieve the desired tone The resonator is tuned to the key through careful choice of size of resonator adjustment of the diameter of the mouth of the resonator using wasp wax and adjustment of the height of the key above the resonator A skilled maker can produce startling amplification The mallets used to play dibinda and mbila have heads made from natural rubber taken from a wild creeping plant 10 Interlocking or alternating rhythm features in Eastern African xylophone music such as that of the Makonde dimbila the Yao mangolongondo or the Shirima mangwilo in which the opachera the initial caller is responded to by another player the wakulela 11 This usually doubles an already rapid rhythmic pulse that may also co exist with a counter rhythm Timbila Mbila Edit The mbila plural timbila is associated with the Chopi people of the Inhambane Province in southern Mozambique 10 It is not to be confused with the mbira The style of music played on it is believed to be the most sophisticated method of composition yet found among preliterate peoples 12 The gourd resonated equal ratio heptatonic tuned mbila of Mozambique is typically played in large ensembles in a choreographed dance perhaps depicting a historical drama Ensembles consist of around ten xylophones of three or four sizes A full orchestra would have two bass instruments called gulu with three or four wooden keys played standing up using heavy mallets with solid rubber heads three tenor dibinda with ten keys and played seated and the mbila itself which has up to nineteen keys of which up to eight may be played simultaneously The gulu uses gourds and the mbila and dibinda Masala apple shells as resonators They accompany the dance with long compositions called ngomi or mgodo and consist of about 10 pieces of music grouped into 4 separate movements with an overture in different tempos and styles The ensemble leader serves as poet composer conductor and performer creating a text improvising a melody partially based on the features of the Chopi tone language and composing a second contrapuntal line The musicians of the ensemble partially improvise their parts The composer then consults with the choreographer of the ceremony and adjustments are made 7 The longest and most important of these is the Mzeno which will include a song telling of an issue of local importance or even making fun of a prominent figure in the community 10 Performers include Eduardo Durao and Venancio Mbande 10 13 14 Gyil Edit Main article Balafon The gyil English ˈ dʒ ɪ l e dʒ iː l is a pentatonic instrument common to the Gur speaking populations in Ghana Burkina Faso Mali and Ivory Coast in West Africa The Gyil is the primary traditional instrument of the Dagara people of northern Ghana and Burkina Faso and of the Lobi of Ghana southern Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast The gyil is usually played in pairs accompanied by a calabash gourd drum called a kuor It can also be played by one person with the drum and the stick part as accompaniment or by a soloist Gyil duets are the traditional music of Dagara funerals The instrument is generally played by men who learn to play while young however there is no restriction on gender The Gyil s design is similar to the Balaba or Balafon used by the Mande speaking Bambara Dyula and Sosso peoples further west in southern Mali and western Burkina Faso a region that shares many musical traditions with those of northern Ivory Coast and Ghana It is made with 14 wooden keys of an African hardwood called liga attached to a wooden frame below which hang calabash gourds 15 Spider web silk covers small holes in the gourds to produce a buzzing sound and antelope sinew and leather are used for the fastenings 15 The instrument is played with rubber headed wooden mallets Silimba Edit A silimba in a Zambian market The silimba is a xylophone developed by Lozi people in Barotseland western Zambia 16 The tuned keys are tied atop resonating gourds 17 The silimba or shinjimba is used by the Nkoya people of Western Zambia at traditional royal ceremonies like the Kazanga Nkoya The silimba is an essential part of the folk music traditions of the Lozi people and can be heard at their annual Kuomboka ceremony The shilimba is now used in most parts of Zambia Akadinda amadinda and mbaire Edit The akadinda and the amadinda are xylophone like instruments originating in Buganda in modern day Uganda 18 The amadinda is made of twelve logs which are tuned in a pentatonic scale It mainly is played by three players Two players sit opposite of each other and play the same logs in an interlocking technique in a fast tempo It has no gourd resonators or buzzing tone two characteristics of many other African xylophones 19 The amadinda was an important instrument at the royal court in Buganda a Ugandan kingdom A special type of notation is now used for this xylophone consisting of numbers for and periods 20 as is also the case with the embaire a type of xylophone originating in southern Uganda 20 Balo Edit Main article Balafon The balo balenjeh behlanjeh is used among the Mandinka people of West Africa Its keys are mounted on gourds and struck with mallets with rubber tips The players typically wear iron cylinders and rings attached to their hands so that they jingle as they play 21 Western xylophone Edit Orchestral xylophone left and marimba right The earliest mention of a xylophone in Europe was in Arnolt Schlick s Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten 1511 where it is called hultze glechter wooden clatter 22 23 There follow other descriptions of the instrument though the term xylophone is not used until the 1860s 24 The instrument was associated largely with the folk music of Central Europe notably Poland and eastern Germany An early version appeared in Slovakia 7 98 and the earliest reference to a similar instrument came in the 14th century 25 The first use of a European orchestral xylophone was in Camille Saint Saens Danse Macabre in 1874 4 By that time the instrument had already been popularized to some extent by Michael Josef Gusikov 26 whose instrument was the five row xylophone made of 28 crude wooden bars arranged in semitones in the form of a trapezoid and resting on straw supports There were no resonators and it was played fast with spoon shaped sticks According to musicologist Curt Sachs Gusikov performed in garden concerts variety shows and as a novelty act at symphony concerts The western xylophone was used by early jazz bands and in vaudeville Its bright lively sound worked well the syncopated dance music of the 1920s and 1930s Red Norvo George Cary George Hamilton Green Teddy Brown and Harry Breuer were well known users As time passed the xylophone was exceeded in popularity by the metal key vibraphone which was developed in the 1920s A xylophone with a range extending downwards into the marimba range is called a xylorimba In orchestral scores a xylophone can be indicated by the French claquebois German Holzharmonika literally wooden harmonica or Italian silofono 23 Shostakovich was particularly fond of the instrument it has prominent roles in much of his work including most of his symphonies and his Cello Concerto No 2 Modern xylophone players include Bob Becker Evelyn Glennie and Ian Finkel In the United States there are Zimbabwean marimba bands in particularly high concentration in the Pacific Northwest Colorado and New Mexico but bands exist from the East Coast through California and even to Hawaii and Alaska The main event for this community is ZimFest the annual Zimbabwean Music Festival The bands are composed of instruments from high sopranos through to lower soprano tenor baritone and bass Resonators are usually made with holes covered by thin cellophane similar to the balafon to achieve the characteristic buzzing sound The repertoires of U S bands tends to have a great overlap due to the common source of the Zimbabwean musician Dumisani Maraire who was the key person who first brought Zimbabwean music to the West coming to the University of Washington in 1968 Use in elementary education Edit Three Orff Schulwerk xylophones of different ranges Many music educators use xylophones as a classroom resource to assist children s musical development One method noted for its use of xylophones is Orff Schulwerk which combines the use of instruments movement singing and speech to develop children s musical abilities 27 Xylophones used in American general music classrooms are smaller at about 1 1 2 octaves than the 2 1 2 or more octave range of performance xylophones The bass xylophone ranges are written from middle C to A an octave higher but sound one octave lower than written The alto ranges are written from middle C to A an octave higher and sound as written The soprano ranges are written from middle C to A an octave higher but sound one octave higher than written 28 According to Andrew Tracey marimbas were introduced to Zimbabwe in 1960 16 Zimbabwean marimba based upon Shona music has also become popular in the West which adopted the original use of these instruments to play transcriptions of mbira dzavadzimu as well as nyunga nyunga and matepe music The first of these transcriptions had originally been used for music education in Zimbabwe Zimbabwean instruments are often in a diatonic C major scale which allows them to be played with a western tuned mbira G nyamaropa sometimes with an added F key placed inline Famous solo works Edit Concertino for Xylophone by Mayuzumi Scherzo For Xylophone and Piano by Ptaczinska Robin Harry by Inns Tambourin Chinoise by KreislerFamous orchestral excerpts EditBarber Samuel Medea s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance Bartok Bela The Wooden Prince Bartok Bela Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta Britten Benjamin The Young Person s Guide to the Orchestra Copland Aaron Hoe Down from Rodeo Gershwin George Introduction from Porgy and Bess Hindemith Paul Kammermusik No 1 Holst Gustav The Planets Janacek Leos Jenufa Kabalevsky Dimitri The Comedians Suite Khachaturian Aram Sabre Dance from ballet Gayane Messiaen Olivier Oiseaux exotiques Prokofiev Sergei Scythian Suite Saint Saens Camille Danse Macabre Saint Saens Camille Fossils from Carnival of the Animals Stravinsky Igor The Firebird Ballet 1910 Stravinsky Igor Petrouchka 1911 Stravinsky Igor Petrouchka 1947 Walton William Belshazzar s FeastSee also EditMusical Stones of SkiddawCitations Edit 3ylon Henry George Liddell Robert Scott A Greek English Lexicon on Perseus fwnh Henry George Liddell Robert Scott A Greek English Lexicon on Perseus Xylophonist Definition of Xylophonist by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico com also meaning of Xylophonist Lexico Dictionaries English Archived from the original on 7 December 2020 Retrieved 19 September 2020 a b c d How xylophone is made Madehow com 26 June 2000 Retrieved 1 November 2011 Cook Gary D 1997 Teaching Percussion Second ed Belmont California Schirmer Books Wadsworth Thomson Learning Percussion gt Mallets gt Xylophone gt History Vsl co at Vienna Symphonic Library Retrieved 1 November 2011 a b c Nettl Bruno 1956 Music in Primitive Culture Cambridge Massachusetts Harvard University Press ISBN 9780674590007 Blench Roger 1 November 2012 Using diverse sources of evidence for reconstructing the prehistory of musical exchanges in the Indian Ocean and their broader significance for cultural prehistory African Archaeological Review special issue 7 11 doi 10 1007 s10437 014 9178 z S2CID 162200224 Annotated Checklist of Musical Instruments From Sub Saharan Africa on Display in the NMM s Beede Gallery National Music Museum Retrieved 5 June 2015 a b c d Music of Mozambique Information from Answers com 25 November 2010 Retrieved 1 November 2011 Kubik Gerhard Robotham Donald Keith 27 January 2012 African music musical structure Encyclopaedia Britannica Mitchell Barry 14 January 2008 Theory of Music Theoryofmusic wordpress com Retrieved 1 November 2011 African Heartbeats pointofdeparture org Retrieved 1 November 2011 Romney Jonathan 5 March 1991 Timbila album review Q Magazine 55 68 a b Harper Colter 2008 Life Death and Music in West Africa Contexts Magazine Winter 44 51 doi 10 1525 ctx 2008 7 1 44 S2CID 59623412 a b Tracey Andrew 26 May 2004 Marimbas History kalimba co za Andrew Tracey and Christian Carver Zambia Zambiatourism com 21 December 2006 Retrieved 1 November 2011 akadinda musical instrument Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 27 April 2009 xylophone musical instrument Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 25 April 2009 a b African music Interlocking Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 25 April 2009 The Behlanjeh the national musical instrument of the Mandingos Royal Commonwealth Society Library Cambridge University Library University of Cambridge 5 November 2004 Archived from the original on 27 June 2007 History The world of wooden mallet instruments Vsl co at Vienna Symphonic Library Retrieved 1 November 2011 a b Anderson Lois Ann et al 2001 Xylophone In Sadie Stanley Tyrrell John eds The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd ed London Macmillan ISBN 978 1 56159 239 5 xylophone Oxford English Dictionary Second ed Oxford University Press 1989 7 April 1866 edition of the Athenaeum A prodigy who does wonderful things with little drumsticks on a machine of wooden keys called the xylophone Leaves for the Little Ones The Ladies Companion Rogerson and Tuxford 152 1865 and Master Bonnay on the Xylophone is always recalled Both citations refer to the performance of a child prodigy Sunbury The Xylophone Concertgoersguide org Oregon Symphony Players Association Archived from the original on 13 August 2007 Retrieved 5 June 2015 Michael Joseph Guzikow Archives Archived 30 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine American Orff Schulwerk Association Aosa org Retrieved 1 November 2011 Keetman Gunild Orff Carl 1958 Orff Schulwerk Music for Children Translated by Margaret Murray London Schott amp Co Ltd Additional sources EditPaco Celso 2000 A Luta Continua In Broughton Simon Ellingham Mark McConnachie James Duane Orla eds World Music Vol 1 Africa Europe and the Middle East Rough Guides Ltd Penguin Books pp 579 584 ISBN 1 85828 636 0 Tracey Hugh 1948 Chopi Musicians their Music Poetry and Instruments 1970 ed London International African Institute and Oxford University Press ISBN 9780197241820 Hallis Ron Hallis Ophera 1987 Chopi Music of Mozambique 16 mm video 28 minutes Archived from the original on 20 July 2011 Mgodo Wa Mbanguzi Chopi village in southern Mozambique Gei Zantzinger and Andrew Tracey External links Edit Media related to Xylophones at Wikimedia Commons Schlesinger Kathleen 1911 Xylophone Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 28 11th ed p 889 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Xylophone amp oldid 1131139692, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, 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