A lithophone is a musical instrument made from rock or pieces of rock that are struck to create musical notes. Notes can be played together to create harmony or one after another to make a melody. It is a type of instrument that produces sound when struck, similar to instruments like the glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, and marimba.

In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, lithophones are labeled as '111.22' – a category for instruments that are hit directly to make sound.

History

Research shows that lithophones, which are stone instruments, have been used since prehistoric times. The first written record of them was made by Peter Crosthwaite in a note he wrote on June 11, 1785. He called them "Music Stones" and rediscovered the lithophone, creating one that is now kept at the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. Crosthwaite collected six stones at first, then added ten more over six months. Each stone produced a different musical note. The size and thickness of the stones determined the musical note: longer and thicker stones made lower notes, while shorter and thinner stones made higher notes. He arranged the stones on ropes so they could be played from left (lowest notes) to right (highest notes), using a total of 16 stones.

Notable examples

A basic type of lithophone is the "rock gong," which is often a natural rock formation used to create musical sounds. An example is found on Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria, Kenya. In Gobustan State Historical and Cultural Reserve near Baku, Azerbaijan, the Gaval Dash is a natural stone that makes a sound similar to a tambourine when struck with smaller rocks. The Great Stalacpipe Organ in Luray Caverns, Virginia, USA, uses 37 stalactites to create sounds from the Western musical scale. Other examples of stalactite lithophones are located in Tenkasi, South India, and Ringing Rocks Park in Pennsylvania. One example no longer used is the lithophone at Cave of the Winds in Colorado Springs.

The Txalaparta (or Chalaparta), a traditional instrument from the Basque region, is typically made of wood but can also be made of stone.

More advanced lithophones use stones that are shaped and attached to a frame to create full musical instruments:

• Stones that may be from ancient times were found in Sankarjang, Odisha, India.
• Recent studies of stone tools from North America and Europe have shown that some might have been used as portable lithophones.
• Ancient Vietnamese lithophones called đàn đá were discovered and brought back into use in the 20th century.
• Korean ritual music includes stone chimes called pyeongyeong, which are inspired by Chinese instruments called bianqing.
• The Musical Stones of Skiddaw from Cumbria, England, were turned into an instrument now displayed at Keswick Museum and Art Gallery.
• A lithophone called the Musical Stones was created at Brantwood, the former home of John Ruskin in Cumbria, England, and can be played by visitors.
• The Silex Piano, made around 1885, used suspended flint stones of different sizes that were struck with other flint stones to make sounds.
• Composer-vibraphonist Wolfgang Lackerschmid uses an instrument called the gramorimba, which is played with a vibraphone and marimba in a group setting.
• The Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós played a slate marimba made by sculptor Páll Guðmundsson from rocks in Iceland, as shown in their DVD Heima.
• The stone marimba.
• The hōkyō, a lithophone invented in Japan, is made from bars of sanukite.
• German composer Carl Orff included a lithophone called Steinspiel in his later musical works.
• UK musician Tony Dale created a resonated slate lithophone in 1984, which was used by composer John Hardy.

As architectural elements

Ancient Indians may have been the first to use man-made lithophones as parts of buildings. Examples include the Nellaiyappar temple (8th century) in Tirunelveli, the Vijaya Vitthala temple (15th century) in Hampi, the Madurai Meenakshi temple (16th century), and the Suchindram Thanumalayan temple (17th century). These temples have musical pillars.

Stone marimba

A stone marimba is set up in the same way as the more common wooden bar marimba. The bars are usually wide, like a wooden marimba, but are thinner. This helps the sound carry farther. A stone marimba may or may not have resonators, which are hollow tubes that help the sound carry farther.

In 1949, an ancient stone marimba was found in modern-day Vietnam near a village called Ndut Lieng Krak. The 11 stone plates, made of schist, were shaped to match the tuning of a pentatonic scale. These plates are now kept at the Musée de l'Homme and may be the oldest known musical instrument.

• Lithophone made of Phonolite in the Schellerhau botanic garden (Germany)
• Ethiopian Lithophones with Stand, Monastery of Na’akuto La’ab
• Stone marimba, range C3–C5
• Stone xylophone, Clore Garden of Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
• Stone chimes, Shandong Provincial Museum, Jinan