A metallophone is a type of musical instrument where the part that makes sound is made of metal, such as bars, tubes, rods, bowls, or plates. Usually, the metal is struck with a mallet to create sound, though it may also be played using friction, a keyboard, or other methods.
Metallophones have been used in Asian music for thousands of years. In Balinese and Javanese gamelan ensembles, instruments like the gendèr, gangsa, and saron are used. These instruments have one row of bars that are tuned to specific musical scales called pelog or slendro. The Western glockenspiel and vibraphone are also metallophones. They have two rows of bars arranged like a piano keyboard and are tuned to the chromatic scale.
In music from the 20th century and later, the term "metallophone" sometimes refers to a single row of metal bars hanging over a resonator box. Metallophones tuned to the diatonic scale are often used in schools. Carl Orff included diatonic metallophones in his compositions, such as his educational work, Schulwerk. Metallophones with microtonal tunings are used in the music of Iannis Xenakis, such as in Pléïades, and in the works of Harry Partch.
Classification
Metallophones are a type of instrument made of metal. They belong to the Hornbostel-Sachs category 111.22, which is a group of percussion plaques. This group is part of a larger category called percussion idiophones.
List of metallophones
- Aluphone
- Bell
- Bell plate
- Bonang
- Cegléd water jug
- Celesta
- Chime bar
- Cowbells
- Crotales
- Dulcitone
- Fangxiang
- Gangsa
- Geger
- Gendèr
- Glockenspiel
- Gong
- Hand bells
- Handpan
- Jegogan
- Jublag
- Kulintang a Tiniok / Sarunay
- Mark tree
- Orff metallophones
- Ranat ek lek
- Ranat thum lek
- Rhodes piano
- Roneat dek
- Roneat thong
- Saron
- Slentem
- Step bell
- Steel marimbaphone
- Ugal
- Steel drum
- Tam-tam
- Toy piano
- Triangle
- Tubaphone
- Tubular bells
- Vibraphone
- Waterphone