'', 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 Austronesian speaking peoples migrated to Africa, and compared East African xylophone orchestras and Javanese and Balinese gamelan orchestras. This hypothesis was challenged by ethnomusicologist and linguist Roger Blench, who posits an independent origin 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.
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. 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. "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. 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
Chopi people of the
Inhambane Province, in southern Mozambique. 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 with three or four wooden keys played standing up using heavy mallets with solid rubber heads, three tenor , 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 uses gourds and the and Masala apple shells as resonators. They accompany the dance with long compositions called or 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.
Gyil The
gyil () 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. Spider web silk covers small holes in the gourds to produce a buzzing sound and antelope sinew and leather are used for the fastenings. The tuned keys are tied atop resonating
gourds. Known as shinjimba among the Nkoya, it is used at the Kazanga, a traditional royal ceremony of the 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. 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. 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. as is also the case with the
embaire, a type of xylophone originating in southern
Uganda.
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"). There follow other descriptions of the instrument, though the term "xylophone" is not used until the 1860s. The instrument was associated largely with the folk music of Central Europe, notably Poland and eastern Germany. An early version appeared in
Slovakia The first use of a European orchestral xylophone was in
Camille Saint-Saëns'
Danse Macabre, in 1874. 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, Harry Breuer and Harry Robbins were among the well-known players. 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.
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. The xylophone also plays a prominent role in
Khachaturian's
Sabre Dance. 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==