Xylophone
Percussion instrument | |
---|---|
Classification | Percussion |
Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 111.212 (Set of percussion sticks) |
Developed | 9th century |
Playing range | |
Related instruments | |
laggutu, marimba |
The xylophone (from
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
The modern western xylophone has bars of
Concert xylophones have tube
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
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.
Mbila
The mbila (plural "timbila") is associated with the
Gyil
The gyil (English:
The Gyil's design is similar to the Balaba or
Silimba
The silimba is a xylophone common among the Nkoya and Lozi people of
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
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
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
Many music educators use xylophones as a classroom resource to assist children's musical development. One method noted for its use of xylophones is
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
- Howard Bashaw: Four Toccatas for xylophone (or marimba) and piano
- Daniel Dorff: Allegro volante for xylophone and piano (1992) (from the Percussion Concerto)
- Alan Hovhaness: Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints for xylophone and orchestra (1965)
- Lawrence Inns: Robbin' Harry for xylophone and piano (1934, written for Harry Robbins)
- Fritz Kreisler: Tambourin Chinoise (arr. George Hamilton Green)
- István Láng: Concertino for xylophone and orchestra (1961, rev. 1967)
- Toshiro Mayuzumi: Concertino for xylophone and orchestra (or piano) (1965)
- Gustav Peter: Memory of Circus Renz (1894)
- Marta Ptaszynska: Scherzo For xylophone and piano (1967)
- Thomas Pitfield: Sonata for xylophone solo (1967)
- Kjell Roikjer: Concerto for xylophone and orchestra, Op.34 (1942)
- Nikos Skalkottas: Nocturne-Divertimento for xylophone and orchestra (1949)
- Jay Sydeman: Music for xylophone solo (1975)
Famous orchestral excerpts
- Barber, Samuel – Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
- Bartók, Béla – The Wooden Prince
- Bartók, Béla – 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
- Janáček, Leoš – Jenůfa
- Kabalevsky, Dimitri – The Comedians, Suite
- Khachaturian, Aram – "Sabre Dance" from ballet Gayane
- Messiaen, Olivier – Oiseaux exotiques
- Prokofiev, Sergei – Scythian Suite
- Saint-Saëns, Camille – Danse Macabre
- Saint-Saëns, 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 Feast
See also
Citations
- ^ Henry George Liddell; Robert Scott, eds. (1940). "ξύλον". A Greek-English Lexicon. Henry Stuart Jones, Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved 24 February 2023 – via www.perseus.tufts.edu.
- ^ Henry George Liddell; Robert Scott, eds. (1940). "φων-ή". A Greek-English Lexicon. Henry Stuart Jones, Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved 24 February 2023 – via www.perseus.tufts.edu.
- ^ "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 > Mallets > Xylophone > History". Vsl.co.at. Vienna Symphonic Library. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
- ^ ISBN 9780674590007.
- 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". Encyclopædia 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.
- ^ S2CID 59623412.
- ^ a b Tracey, Andrew (26 May 2004). "Marimbas History". kalimba.co.za. Andrew Tracey and Christian Carver.
- ^ "~Zambia~". Zambia Tourism. Zambiatourism.com. 21 December 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
- ^ "akadinda (musical instrument)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 27 April 2009.
- ^ "xylophone (musical instrument)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
- ^ a b "African music :: Interlocking". Encyclopædia 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.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
- Athenaeum: 'A prodigy ... who does wonderful things with little drumsticks on a machine of wooden keys, called the 'xylophone'.'. The Ladies' Companion. Rogerson and Tuxford: 152. 1865.
"Leaves for the Little Ones"...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 & Co. Ltd.
General and cited references
- Hallis, Ron; Hallis, Ophera (1987). Chopi Music of Mozambique (16 mm video; 28 minutes). Archived from the original on 20 July 2011.
- 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.
- ISBN 9780197241820.
- Mgodo Wa Mbanguzi. Chopi village in southern Mozambique: Gei Zantzinger and Andrew Tracey. OCLC 47815221.
External links
- Schlesinger, Kathleen (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). p. 889. .