The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It has wooden bars that are struck with mallets to make sound. Each bar is a type of instrument called an idiophone, and it is tuned to a specific pitch in a musical scale. Some scales include five or seven notes, like those found in many African and Asian instruments. Others use seven notes, as seen in some children's instruments from the West. Orchestral xylophones use all the notes in a scale, called chromatic.

The word "xylophone" can refer to several similar instruments, such as the marimba, balafon, and semantron. However, in an orchestra, the term "xylophone" specifically describes a chromatic instrument with a higher pitch and a drier, less soft sound compared to the marimba. These two instruments are different and should not be confused. A person who plays the xylophone is called a xylophonist or a xylophone player.

The term "xylophone" is also used to describe similar instruments made of stone or metal, such as the lithophone or metallophone. For example, the Pixiphone and other toys labeled as xylophones have metal bars instead of wooden ones. In the study of musical instruments, these are classified as glockenspiels, not xylophones.

Construction of xylophones

The modern western xylophone has bars made from materials like rosewood, padauk, cocobolo, or synthetic materials such as fiberglass or fiberglass-reinforced plastic. These materials help produce a louder sound. Some xylophones have a range as small as 2 + 1⁄2 octaves, but concert xylophones usually have a range of 3 + 1⁄2 or 4 octaves. Like the glockenspiel, the xylophone is a transposing instrument, meaning the music is written one octave below the actual pitch of the notes.

Concert xylophones use tube resonators beneath the bars to improve the sound and make it last longer. The frames are made of wood or less expensive steel tubing. More expensive xylophones often have adjustable height and more stable stands. In other musical traditions, some xylophones use gourds that act as Helmholtz resonators. Others are "trough" xylophones with a single hollow body that serves as a resonator for all the bars.

Old methods involved placing the bars on bundles of straw tied together, a practice still used today. Bars are also sometimes arranged next to each other in a ladder-like shape. Ancient mallets were made of willow wood with spoon-shaped bowls on the ends that were struck.

Mallets

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

History

The instrument has not well known ancient beginnings. Nettl suggested that it began in southeast Asia and reached Africa around AD 500 when a group of Austronesian-speaking people moved to Africa. He compared East African xylophone orchestras with Javanese and Balinese gamelan orchestras. This idea was questioned by Roger Blench, a music researcher and linguist, who argued that the xylophone developed independently in Africa. He pointed to differences in African xylophones and the wide variety of xylophone-like instruments found there as evidence of local invention.

The earliest proof of a true xylophone comes from the 9th century in southeast Asia. A similar hanging wood instrument, called a harmonicon, is said to have existed in what is now China as early as 2000 BC. In Hindu regions, the xylophone-like ranat was used. In Indonesia, many areas have their own types of xylophones. In North Sumatra, the Toba Batak people use wooden xylophones called Garantung. In Java and Bali, xylophones such as gambang, Rindik, and Tingklik are used in gamelan ensembles. These instruments remain important in Malaysia, Melanesia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and parts of the Americas. In Myanmar, the xylophone is called Pattala and is usually made of bamboo.

The term marimba is also used for traditional instruments like the West African balafon. Early versions had wooden bars placed on gourds. The wood was roasted over a fire before shaping to achieve the right sound. The resonator was tuned by carefully choosing its size, adjusting the diameter of its opening with wasp wax, and changing the height of the key above it. A skilled maker can create very loud sounds. The mallets used to play dibinda and mbila have rubber heads from a wild plant. In Eastern African xylophone music, such as the Makonde dimbila, Yao mangolongondo, or Shirima mangwilo, "interlocking" rhythms are common. One player, called the opachera, starts a rhythm, and another player, the wakulela, responds by repeating it. This rhythm often matches a fast beat and may include a counter-rhythm.

The mbila (plural "timbila") is connected to the Chopi people of Inhambane Province in southern Mozambique. It should not be confused with the mbira. The music played on the mbila is considered the most complex composition method among groups without written language. The gourd-resonated, heptatonic-tuned mbila from Mozambique is often played in large groups during choreographed dances, possibly telling historical stories. Groups usually include ten xylophones of three or four sizes. A full orchestra includes 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 played seated, and the mbila itself, which has up to nineteen keys, with up to eight played at once. The gulu uses gourds, while the mbila and dibinda use Masala apple shells as resonators. They play long compositions called ngomi or mgodo, which include about ten pieces divided into four parts with an overture, different tempos, and styles. The leader of the group acts as poet, composer, conductor, and performer, creating a text, improvising a melody based on the Chopi tone language, and composing a second melody line. Musicians partially improvise their parts. The leader then works with the dance choreographer to make changes. The most important piece is called "Mzeno," which might include a song about a local issue or even mock a community figure. Performers include Eduardo Durão and Venancio Mbande.

The gyil (pronounced /ˈdʒɪlə, dʒiːl/) is a pentatonic instrument used by Gur-speaking people in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Ivory Coast. It is especially important for the Dagara people of northern Ghana and Burkina Faso and the Lobi of Ghana, southern Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. The gyil is usually played in pairs with a calabash gourd drum called a kuor. It can also be played by one person with the drum and stick as accompaniment, or by a soloist. Gyil duets are part of Dagara funeral music. Men often learn to play it as children, though there are no rules about gender.

The gyil is similar to the Balaba or Balafon used by the Mande-speaking Bambara, Dyula, and Sosso peoples in southern Mali and western Burkina Faso, a region that shares musical traditions with northern Ivory Coast and Ghana. It is made with 14 wooden keys from a hardwood called liga attached to a wooden frame, with calabash gourds hanging below. Spider silk covers small holes in the gourds to create a buzzing sound, and antelope sinew and leather are used for fastenings. The instrument is played with rubber-headed wooden mallets.

The silimba is a xylophone used by the Nkoya and Lozi people of Barotseland in western Zambia. The tuned keys are tied above resonating gourds. Called shinjimba by the Nkoya, it is used during the Kazanga, a traditional royal ceremony. The silimba is important in Lozi folk music and is played at their annual Kuomboka ceremony. It is now used in most parts of Zambia.

The akadinda and amadinda are xylophone-like instruments from Buganda in modern-day Uganda. The amadinda is made of twelve logs tuned in a pentatonic scale. It is usually played by three people. Two players sit opposite each other and play the same logs in an interlocking style at a fast tempo. It does not have gourd resonators or a buzzing tone, which are features of many other African xylophones.

The amadinda was important in the royal court of Buganda, a Ugandan kingdom. A special notation system is now used for this instrument, including numbers and periods, as is

Use in elementary education

Many music teachers use xylophones in classrooms to help children learn music. One teaching method that uses xylophones is called Orff-Schulwerk. This method uses instruments, movement, singing, and speaking to help children improve their musical skills. Xylophones used in American music classes are smaller, with about 1 and a half octaves, compared to performance xylophones, which have 2 and a half octaves or more.

The bass xylophone range is written from middle C to a note one octave higher, but it sounds one octave lower than written. The alto range is also written from middle C to a note one octave higher, but it sounds the same as written. The soprano range is written from middle C to a note one octave higher, but it sounds one octave higher than written.

According to Andrew Tracey, marimbas were brought to Zimbabwe in 1960. Marimbas in Zimbabwe are inspired by Shona music and have become popular in the West. Western musicians use these instruments to play music transcriptions of mbira dzavadzimu, as well as nyunga nyunga and matepe. These transcriptions were first used for music education in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean marimbas often use a diatonic C major scale, which allows them to be played with a "western-tuned" mbira called G nyamaropa. Sometimes, an extra F♯ key is added to the instrument.

General and cited references

• Hallis, Ron; Hallis, Ophera (1987). Chopi Music of Mozambique (16 mm video; 28 minutes). Saved from the original source on July 20, 2011.
• Paco, Celso (2000). "A Luta Continua." In World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, edited by Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham, James McConnachie, and Orla Duane. Published by Rough Guides Ltd. and Penguin Books. Pages 579–584. ISBN 1-85828-636-0.
• Tracey, Hugh (1948). Chopi Musicians: Their Music, Poetry, and Instruments (1970 edition). Published by the International African Institute and Oxford University Press in London. ISBN 9780197241820. Note: ISBN and date information may not match exactly.
• Mgodo Wa Mbanguzi: Chopi village in southern Mozambique: Gei Zantzinger and Andrew Tracey. OCLC 47815221.