(from Gk. xylon: ‘wood’; Fr. xylophone, claquebois; Ger. Xylophon, Holzharmonika; It. silofono).
Percussion instrument consisting of two or more bars of graduated length.
1. Distribution and classification.
4. South-east Asia and the Pacific.
LOIS ANN ANDERSON/R (1, 3–4), JAMES BLADES/JAMES HOLLAND (2), GEORGE LIST, LINDA L. O’BRIEN-ROTHE (5)
The xylophone may take several different types of construction and form: a set of bars of tuned bamboo, wood or synthetic material, logs or tubes, supported at two nodes of vibration and struck with sticks. There may be one resonator for the instrument (a pit or trough), or there may be individual resonators for each ‘key’. (For similar instruments made of stone or metal, see Lithophone and Metallophone).
In addition to Western art music, xylophones are found in Africa, Central and South America, South-east Asia (mainland and insular), Melanesia, and the Marquesas Islands in Polynesia. In Europe, xylophones are used in the traditional music of Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic and other Eastern European countries. Many 20th-century composers have scored for the instrument.
Individual keys may be loose or may be temporarily or permanently attached to a support. They may rest on the legs or thighs of a player, on straw bundles, banana trees, a pit or a trough, or be suspended between supports. Between keys and support, there may be insulating material such as rubber or plastic knobs, grass bundles or strips of cloth to permit free vibration of the keys.
When the keys are suspended, the cord-and-key arrangement may be attached to the sides of a trough resonator or to vertical posts, or one end of the cord-and-key arrangement may be suspended from a vertical post and the other tied to the player’s leg or waist to form a curved arrangement. When played, the sounding bodies of the instrument are horizontal, oblique, curved or vertical in relationship to the ground. The instrument may rest on the ground, may be held in playing position by the performer, or may be suspended from a cord hung over his shoulders; the player may sit or stand facing the lengths or the widths of the keys. In the Western orchestral xylophone the keys are arranged as in a modern piano keyboard; elsewhere the key arrangement varies. One, two or three single beaters, or two pairs of beaters may be used to strike the middle or the edges of the keys; the ends of the beaters are usually wrapped with cloth or rubber if the keys are struck in the middle. One or more people may play the same instrument, or individual sounding parts of an instrument may be distributed among several players. They may be assigned single melodic lines (for one hand or two), octaves, interlocking patterns or rhythmic patterns.
Hornbostel and Sachs classified the xylophone as an Idiophone, ‘sets of percussion sticks’ (111.212), and divided xylophones into two major types: those with bedded keys and those with suspended keys. Olga Boone, in her study of xylophones in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), published in 1936, delineated two major types: those with free keys and those with permanently fixed keys (the latter divided into those with and those without resonators); she paid particular attention to the ways in which keys and resonators were mounted or attached, tuning patterns, nomenclature and distribution.
In discussing the xylophone’s origins in Africa or Asia (based on published theories in favour of Asia), she felt that conclusions were premature and that other, non-musical evidence was needed to support any hypotheses. Later studies by A.M. Jones (1964) and P.R. Kirby (1966) favour Asian origin of the African xylophone but do not provide full supporting evidence. In India and China, the xylophone with trough resonator and suspended keys is considered a foreign instrument, Burmese in origin. Outside China, the xylophone with trough resonator and bedded keys is associated with Chinese communities. In West Java, for example, the Gambang xylophone is played by the leader of the ensemble (gambang leromong) that accompanies song and dance plays at Chinese weddings. As a solo instrument, the gambang was played by Javanese females of Chinese ancestry to accompany the singing of pantun poetry. In Japan, the mokkin with 16 or 17 bedded keys is used in the geza off-stage music for kabuki theatre. A similar xylophone was associated with Japanese societies that performed Chinese music of the Qing dynasty beginning in the 1820s and 30s.
An instrument that came into Rameau’s possession was also regarded as Chinese, though Rameau and later authors did not accept its Chinese provenance (see Schaeffner, 1955). In his discussion of Chinese tunings (Code de musique pratique, 1760), Rameau referred to it as orgue de Barbarie; he stated that it came from the Cape of Good Hope, and there is reason to believe, in the light of contemporary trade routes, that it may have been brought to the Cape from Java or some other part of the East Indies. After Rameau’s death (1764), Burney referred to such an instrument in the possession of Abbé Arnaud as Chinese (BurneyH, i, 46). A sketch of the instrument (fig.1) appeared in La Borde (Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne, 1780) with the caption ‘Instrument Chinois’, noting that Rameau improperly called the instrument orgue de Barbarie, that it was brought from the Indies and that it belonged at that time to Arnaud. The sketch shows a xylophone with bedded keys, resting over a trapezoidal trough; the shape of the instrument appears to be related to that of similarly constructed xylophones in insular South-east Asia. The shape of the instrument’s base, the number of keys and the fanciful beaters provide possible further clues to its origin.
The first mention of the xylophone in Europe was in 1511, when Schlick (Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten) referred to it as hültze glechter (‘wooden clatter’). Agricola (Musica instrumentalis deudsch, 1529) called a series of 25 wooden bars Strohfiedel. Praetorius (Theatrum instrumentorum, 1620) showed a series of 15 bars from about 15 to 53 cm in length, arranged diatonically, in a single row, pyramid fashion (as is Agricola’s). Mersenne (1636–7) illustrated and described two instruments (given as claquebois patouilles and eschelletes) on a grander scale. One has 17 bars, which are struck on the underside with individual beaters and arranged as a keyboard (fig.2). In general, however, the European xylophone before modern times was a simple instrument, the wooden slabs loosely strung together, or resting on ropes of straw, giving rise to the name ‘straw fiddle’ (Strohfiedel). It was very much an instrument of the itinerant musician until the 19th century, when it rose to prominence as a solo instrument and attracted the notice of Mendelssohn, Chopin and Liszt, all of whom spoke of the expertise of Michał Guzikow, a Polish Jew. Mendelssohn said, ‘I must own that the skill of the man beats everything that I could have imagined, for with his wooden sticks resting on straw, his hammers also being of wood, he produces all that is possible with the most perfect instrument’. Guzikow’s instrument consisted of a series of 28 crude wooden bars arranged semitonally, the four rows resting on five straw supports.
During the 19th century the xylophone appeared under various disguises (xylosistron, tryphon etc.). The orchestral instrument had four rows and was similar in many ways to that of Guzikow. The lowest notes were those nearest the player, with the centre two rows corresponding to the white notes of the piano and the outer rows the black keys. Ferdinand Kauer’s Sei variazioni (c1810) contain solo passages for the xylophone, possibly the earliest orchestral use of the instrument. In 1852 it was mentioned in J.-G. Kastner’s Les danses des morts. Better known is Saint-Saëns’s use of the instrument to represent the rattling of the bones of the dead in his Danse macabre (1872), and later (as ‘Fossiles’) in Le carnaval des animaux (1886). The playing technique of the four-row instrument was totally different to that of the modern xylophone, and apparently sightreading was particularly difficult. The modern xylophone originated around the turn of the century, although the four-row instrument is still used in Eastern Europe. Early 20th-century composers to use the xylophone include Mahler (Sixth Symphony, 1903–4); Puccini (Madama Butterfly, 1904); Strauss (Salome, 1903–5); Elgar (Wand of Youth, Suite no.2, 1908); Debussy (Ibéria, 1910); Stravinsky (The Firebird, 1909–10); and Delius (Eventyr, 1917). In his final work (Turandot, completed by Alfano, 1926) Puccini wrote for xylophone and xylofon basso (the latter part is usually now played on a marimba using fairly hard sticks). An extended (and florid) part for xylophone occurs in the third movement of Havergal Brian’s Symphony The Gothic (1919–27).
Complex writing for the xylophone has revolutionized its use compared with the demands of earlier composers, who, with occasional exceptions such as Stravinsky in The Wedding (1923), asked only for short passages. The demands on the modern xylophonist are heavy, especially in Tippett’s The Vision of St Augustine (1960–5) and many of his subsequent compositions, as well as works by Boulez and Messiaen. Boulez’s Le marteau sans maître (1953–5, rev. 1957) in particular was quite widely regarded as being unplayable when it was first published. Works using the xylophone as a solo instrument include Alan Hovhaness’s Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints (1965) and Thomas Pitfield’s Sonata for xylophone (1965). The keyboard xylophone is now virtually obsolete, the tone quality always having been very inferior; but Bartók scored for it (Tastenxylophon) in Bluebeard’s Castle (1911; nowadays the part is usually played on two xylophones).
The xylophone part is normally written (mostly in the treble clef) an octave lower than its sounding pitch, although both Messiaen and Birtwistle have mostly (but not always) notated xylophone parts at sounding pitch. Normally only one staff is used; rare exceptions include Ravel’s Ma mère l’oye (1908–10; ‘Laideronette’), where it is given a double staff.
The arrangement of the modern European instrument follows that of a piano keyboard, and, as is the practice with bar-percussion instruments, the bars are suspended from cords passing through their node points, or rest on a cushion of felt or similar insulation. In general the row of bars corresponding to the black notes of the piano is raised, keyboard fashion. The compass of the orchestral xylophones in general use is either four octaves ascending from c', or three and a half octaves ascending from f' or g'(fig.3). The larger instrument is preferable for the demands of modern composers. The bars are of the finest rosewood (or wood of a similar resonant and durable quality), or of new synthetic bar materials such as Kelon (a pultrusion silicate) or Klyperon, prepared from synthetic reinforced resins. Synthetic bars are generally regarded as having an inferior tone quality. The pitch of each bar is governed by its length and depth; the shallowing of the underside of the bar lowers the pitch considerably. In the modern orchestral xylophone each bar is suspended over a tube resonator in which the air-column frequency matches the pitch of the bar. The bars give a bright penetrating sound when struck with hardheaded mallets. Softer beaters produce a mellow sound and are specially useful on the lower notes.
Oral traditions mention the xylophone in the 13th-century kingdom of Mali; the first written reference, also from Mali, comes from the mid-14th century. Describing two Muslim festivals at the court, Ibn Battūta (Travels in Asia and Africa, trans. H.A.R. Gibb, 1929) mentioned an instrument made of reeds with small calabashes at its lower end. In the second half of the 16th century, dos Santos, a Portuguese missionary living among the Karanga in what is now Mozambique, mentioned the ambira, a gourd-resonated instrument. From the mid-17th century onwards, European travellers to the western coasts of the continent refer to the instrument, most often with calabash resonators; the most common names for it were bala, balafo(n) and ballard(s) in West Africa (see Balo) and marimba in the Bantu-speaking areas – the same terms used by writers referring to the instrument in the Caribbean and Central and South America.
Early 20th-century studies of the African xylophone in Europe paid particular attention to organological features of instruments in the Berlin and Tervuren museum collections. Olga Boone focussed on construction details and tuning measurements of xylophones of the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) according to ethnic origin, the distribution of xylophone types there and in other areas of Africa, and the social context of the instrument. She examined 108 xylophones at the Musée du Congo Belge (now the Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale) in Tervuren. In her descriptions, discussion proceeds from the simpler instruments to the more complex; however, she stated that her order of categories did not necessarily represent stages of evolution. The present discussion is primarily concerned with the physical characteristics of the instrument, based on the types distinguished by Boone; additional types are included for those instruments not found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC). There are two main categories of xylophone: those with free keys, in which the keys are independent of each other and their support, and those with fixed keys, in which the keys are permanently attached between themselves and to their support.
For performance, loose keys are assembled on temporary supports, which may consist of the player’s legs, banana-tree trunks, straw bundles, or logs padded with grass. Keys may be completely loose with upright sticks placed between them to prevent their striking each other and stopping vibration. Alternatively, holes may be bored at the side of the key near each end through which a cord is strung and twisted around the dividing upright sticks. Sticks may also be placed vertically between keys at one side of the instrument and through a hole in the middle of each key at the other side. Keys are normally struck at their ends with wooden sticks.
A xylophone type intermediate between free and fixed keys is found among the Sena people in central Mozambique and the Lozi in western Zambia, where keys strung to each other are temporarily mounted on straw bundles; performers may strike the middles of the keys with wooden or rubber-tipped sticks.
(a) Leg xylophones. Keys are mounted on the player’s upper thighs, or (as in Madagascar), from the knees to the ankles. The instrument is played by young girls or boys as part of initiation activities in Senegal; it is also used as a device to keep birds and monkeys out of gardens. The instrument’s resonance may be enhanced by a depression in the ground, or by a pot or calabash placed underneath it (fig.4a). Two to seven keys are played by one or two players.
Distribution: Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin, south-east Nigeria, Central African Republic, Zambia, Malawi and Madagascar.
(b) Pit xylophones. A pit may be an integral part of the free key xylophone. Four to 13 keys are mounted across grass bundles or banana-tree trunks placed at opposite sides of a pit. Among the Yoruba in south-west Nigeria and the Gun in south-east Benin, two such xylophones are played together, one or both instruments over a pit. If the instrument is large, the player sits between two groups of keys with his legs in the pit. This type of xylophone may be used as a practice instrument, as in north-west Ghana, where it is played by children, students of the instrument and adults without a gourd-resonating xylophone. Among the Luba of southern DROC, the tuning of the keys for an instrument which will have individual resonators is tested by laying them across a pit, mounting them on banana-tree trunks or across a calabash.
Distribution: Guinea, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, south-east Democrataic Republic of the Congo, north-west Uganda and southern Malawi.
(c) Log xylophones. Instruments consisting of free keys resting across banana-tree trunks, or a combination of straw bundles (for insulation) and banana-tree trunks, are found in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. They have from six to 22 keys, which are usually larger than those of any other type of African xylophone. It is common for two, or as many as six players, to interlock different melodic patterns on the same instrument (fig.5), or two players facing each other may each play one instrument (see fig.4b). The ends of the keys are usually struck with one or two plain wooden beaters.
Distribution: Guinea, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Chad, northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and south-west Ethiopia.
Keys are mounted on runners, or a resonator, such as a box or trough, to which insulation material is attached. In north-west DROC, two pairs of beaters are used by one player, and adjacent keys are commonly tuned in octaves. The instrument on runners, found in north-west DROC and among the Yaka in south-west DROC, may have crosspieces at the ends to keep the runners apart. The instrument with keys resting on a trough resonator is found in north-west DROC, south-east Nigeria and central Mozambique. The box-resonated xylophone is found near the south-east coast of Kenya, on the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba and in north-east Tanzania. Among the Igbo of south-east Nigeria, two keys are attached to a grass collar which covers the top of an open clay pot.
A key is suspended from cords strung through holes near its ends and attached to the upper ends of two arcs glued to the top of the resonator. The player changes the instrument’s timbre by alternately closing and opening the mouth of the resonator with the left hand. The instrument may be played in groups of two or more, with each one tuned differently, and is commonly used at hunting ceremonies.
Distribution: south-east Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and southern Malawi.
Parallel curved poles and two crosspieces form the support frame of an instrument with two calabashes. The ends of the cords which suspend the keys pass over the crosspieces and are tied to the ends of the poles, and the calabashes are suspended on rods placed in holes in each of the poles.
Distribution: among the Chokwe and Lunda of south-central Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Luvale of eastern Angola.
Instruments differ from area to area in their type of frame construction, and the attachment of keys and calabashes. Many xylophones in the DROC and its neighbouring areas have in common an arc, or bail, which is attached to the sides of the frame (see types 1–3, 5–6 below). The bail keeps the instrument in the proper playing position in front of the player when it is slung from his shoulders. When the player is seated, he may stabilize the instrument by balancing the bail with his feet. The keys may rest on some type of insulation material or on leather cords, or they may be suspended. Calabashes may be hung from the framework or glued to a frame; they are either suspended directly by rods, or by strings secured to rods fastened across a horizontal frame. The calabashes may be glued to a centre board, which may have holes to accommodate them. While a round or elongated calabash is the most common resonator, bamboo, cattle horn or wood is also used. Buzzing devices are attached to one or more holes in the bottom or at the side of each resonator; when they are attached to the side, ancillary tubes or round pieces of calabash may be added to protect the membranes. The instrument is played with one to four rubber-tipped beaters, and the keys are struck in the middle; occasionally two players may play the same instrument. Several different xylophones may be played in the same ensemble.
Type 1: with resonators suspended from rods (Boone 3a). Two runners are attached to the ends of the bail and insulation is fixed to their top edge; rods pierce the calabashes near their tops and pass through holes in the sides of the runners. Rattan is intertwined around the tops of the calabashes to secure them. The keys are strung together by cords and rest on the insulation. Some contemporary instruments do not have a bail but have been modified by the addition of legs inserted between the ends of the runners and the crosspieces at the end of the instrument, so that the player is in a standing position. Distribution: south central and south-east Democratic Republic of the Congo, south-west Zambia and southern Malawi.
Type 2: with suspended keys (Boone 3b). Parallel curved poles constitute the frame for this instrument. The keys are strung on two cords which pass over the crosspieces or ends of the bail and are tied to the ends of the poles and the crosspieces or ends of the bail. The calabashes are strung on cords and are fixed to a rattan cord encircling the poles. On large instruments with a more pronounced curve from the middle of the keys to either end of the instrument (found among the Lunda and Chokwe of Angola), the suspended calabashes are supported by rods which pass through holes in the poles; the suspended keyboard is held firm by another cord which goes through the cord on the underside of the keys and is attached to the poles. On the xylophone of the Nsenga people in central Zambia, the cord from the underside of the keys to the runners also secures the rods that suspend the calabashes. This instrument is fixed between poles set vertically in the ground, and the keys are also hung vertically; on the Lunda and Chokwe instruments, the plane of the keys is oblique to the ground. When two Chokwe instruments are played together, the second may consist only of keys suspended between vertical poles, with a round pit in the ground below the middle of the keyboard. Distribution: south-west Democratic Republic of the Congo, eastern Angola and central Zambia.
Type 3: with quadrilateral frame. This combines characteristics of types (1) and (2), and appears to have been modified early in the 20th century. The support now consists of a four-sided frame with parallel ends whose sides taper towards the smallest keys. A bail is attached to the ends of the frame, and insulation material is fixed to the upper edges of its sides. The calabashes are suspended from rods placed in holes in the sides of the frame and are hung below their respective keys in order to obtain the best vibration. Thus the arrangement of the resonators is staggered. The keys formerly rested on the insulation material, a cord passing through a hole in the far side of the key, under another cord attached to the insulation material, back to the surface through the same hole, and under the insulation cord between keys; on the near side, a cord went over the key and through the insulation material between keys. An additional pair of thicker cords is now added to suspend the keys from the top, passing through the key attachment cords. In effect, the thin cords become loops for the suspension cords between keys and between the holes. The suspension cord passes under a thin cord strung through two vertical holes on the far side of the key, and is knotted to the thin cord between keys; on the near side, the thick cord passes through the thin cord between keys.
Groups of four or five different sizes of these xylophones are part of the mendzan ensemble in Cameroon and Gabon; each instrument has its own name and may overlap in pitch with the instrument next in size. One such ensemble in Cameroon has individual instruments with 11, 11, 10, 4 and 4 keys, while such an ensemble in Gabon consists of instruments with 9, 9, 8, 6 and 2 keys. Reserve keys are added to the larger instruments during construction. Thick beaters made of soft wood are used to strike the middle of the keys. Distribution: south and south-central Cameroon and northern Gabon.
Type 4: with calabashes suspended obliquely. Two horizontal poles extending through holes in side pieces that rest on the ground form the support for this instrument, which is over six feet long. Elongated calabashes, with an oblique cut at one side of their mouths, are suspended from the pole nearest the player and are secured by a thick supporting rope of braided bark to the second pole, so that they are almost parallel to the ground when the instrument is in a playing position. The 21 or 22 rectangular keys rest on thongs stretched across the poles, and are tuned to a heptatonic scale by thinning the centre of the playing side to leave a raised portion from the nodal point to each end, where designs are carved. The keys are strung together by a thong which passes through a hole in the flat section of the key at the edge of the raised portion, goes around the support thong and passes back to the surface through the same hole. The instrument is played by two men, using a total of five beaters. The player of the highest-pitched keys begins the performance with an ostinato pattern played in octaves or other intervals, or with a single melodic line distributed between his two hands. The player of the lowest keys interlocks a different melodic pattern with his right hand, and adds a rhythmic bass pattern characterized by repeated pitches with two beaters in his left hand. The ends of these beaters are crossed in his hand so that they are spread in an angle of almost 90°, facilitating wide leaps. The Venda instrument, mbila mtondo, was formerly an important instrument played at the chief’s kraal. Distribution: northern Transvaal, among the Venda, Kwebo and Lovedu.
Type 5: with centre board and bridges (or distance pieces) (Boone 3c). The frame of the instrument consists of a flat centre board with calabash resonators inserted into circular holes, and wooden bridges tied across the board between the holes. The ends of the bridges are tied to each other by leather thongs, which extend the length of the instrument and also serve as tension thongs to support the keys which are strung together by another set of cords. On some instruments insulation is attached to the edges of the centre board. The calabashes are fixed to the centre board by resin applied to the edges of the holes on both sides of the board. In Nigeria, the resonators are long and slender calabashes, cowhorns (for illustration see Nigeria, §8, fig.2) or wooden cones in the shape of cowhorns. For the ten-key instruments of the Azande in north-east DROC, a pair of beaters in each hand enables the player to strike octaves on adjacent keys. The most common tuning pattern (where numbers indicate the degree of the pentatonic scale) is: 2.2'.3.3'.4.4'.5.5'.1'.1, with the lowest octave pair on the player’s right. Among the Chopi of Mozambique, the centre board has two tenons on each end that fit into holes in the legs of the instrument, while the ends of the curved or rectangular bail fit over the tenons. The keys rest on tension thongs and are supported by thin wooden bridges attached by fibre to the centre board between each pair; the tension thongs pass through holes near the ends of the bridges. The keys are strung together by a pair of long leather cords. The cord further from the player passes through a hole in the key, under the supporting tension thong and back to the surface through the same hole; the near cord goes over each key and under the tension thong between keys (figs.7 and 8); see also Marimba, §1, fig.1). Distribution: (with bridge between keys): east central Nigeria, northern Cameroon, southern Chad, south-west Central African Republic, north-east Democratic Republic of the Congo and southern Sudan; (with bridge between pairs of keys): southern Mozambique and northern Transvaal.
Type 6: with centre board and insulating cushions (Boone 3d). This instrument is similar to the preceding one, except that the keys rest on insulating cushions mounted at some distance parallel to and on either side of the centre board, rather than on cords stretched between bridges. The centre board and the insulating cushions, which consist of fibre, bark cloth or some other type of material covering wooden branches, are attached to the ends of the curved bail, though on some instruments the insulation is attached to the edges of the centre board. Some instruments have bridges; some have calabashes suspended from a piece of rattan, the ends of which are inserted into the insulating cushions. In some areas, four beaters are used by each player. In north-west DROC, adjacent keys are tuned in octaves, usually in the order: 2.2'.3.3'.4.4'.5.5'.1'.1. Distribution: north-west Democratic Republic of the Congo, south central Central African Republic and southern Chad (with bridges).
Type 7: with centre board set within oval frame. An oval-shaped wooden bar surrounds the entire instrument. The keys are suspended, and the cowhorn resonators are glued and tied to the solid curved base, the back of which is etched with abstract designs. Six to eight keys are encircled by cords near the ends of each key, and the ends of the cords are attached to the oval frame; they are in an oblique position to the mouths of the resonators. The seated player supports the instrument between his knees at the middle of the oval frame, and a pair of Y-shaped wooden beaters allows him to strike octaves simultaneously. The keys on a Bura instrument, the tsindza, are arranged: 3.4.5.1'.1.2'.2. Distribution: north-east Nigeria.
Type 8: with open frame. Keys are mounted on an open framework consisting of four vertical and eight horizontal strips of wood lashed together. Round calabash resonators are suspended below each key by means of suspension rods that extend across and beyond the limits of the upper horizontal frame. In order to accommodate all the resonators within the framework, they are arranged in zigzag fashion, forming two rows. The suspension rods for the resonators are secured to the frame by leather strips; another long cord or leather strap serving as insulation for the resting keys then passes over the rods and a third long twisted cord secures the keys together on each side of the instrument. The latter cords are tied to the tops of the vertical posts, and sometimes also to the horizontal crosspieces at each end of the instrument. The physical size of the instrument varies. The smaller instruments (in the west and central area of distribution) may rest on the ground, or be slung from the shoulders with the instrument perpendicular or parallel to the body. The surface of the keyboard is slightly curved at the broader end of the instrument, where ogee-shaped horizontal crosspieces also accommodate the larger calabashes within the frame. The larger instruments (in the eastern area of distribution) rest on the ground in performance. The curvature of the keyboard is more pronounced, allowing room for the large resonators and making the entire keyboard easily accessible. The number of keys ranges from 12 to 21. Tuning is predominantly heptatonic, though the instruments of Burkina Faso, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are pentatonic. The player uses a pair of rubber-tipped beaters, and may also wear bells around his wrist. The generic term for the instrument is balo or bala. In the eastern area of distribution, a commonly used term is gyil, with prefixes or suffixes to denote specific types, sizes or contexts of usage. Xylophones are often played singly or in groups with other instruments. To the west, among Manding-speaking peoples, it is often played by professional musicians of the jali caste; in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, it is an important instrument at funeral ceremonies. Distribution: Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, north-east Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, south-west Burkina Faso and north-west Ghana.
Of the many different types of xylophones found in this area, the instrument with keys resting on cloth or rattan strips at the edges of a wooden trough (trough xylophone with bedded keys) is commonly associated with Gamelan and other ensembles in various parts of Indonesia. Xylophones with suspended keys or tubes are found in the greatest variety. A few examples of a type with keys suspended over individual resonators are found in Bali (e.g. in gamelan gandrung), but that island’s most ancient ensembles (caruk, gambang and luang) have a trough-resonated xylophone with suspended keys. A common term for the xylophone in South-east Asia is gambang (gabbang, gambangan), but it may mean a different type of instrument depending on the ensemble in which it is used; in Sabah, Malaysia and the southern Philippines, gabbang always refers to a trough xylophone with bedded keys, played with rubber-tipped beaters which are curved on the underside and delicately carved in a bird- or kidney-shape.
Comparatively few xylophone types are found on the mainland. A two- or four-key xylophone has been reported in West Malaysia. Suspended tubes or wooden keys in a rope ladder arrangement are found in central Vietnam and north-east Thailand. Among the Jörai, Bahnar and Rhade people in Vietnam, the torung consists of 14 to 20 tubes suspended between the two players, one of whom holds an end of the cord; the other end is tied to the second player’s leg. In Thailand, the kaw law or bong lang with 12 wooden keys is played by the Lao people in Kalasin province. The upper end of the instrument is tied to a tree and the lower end to the player’s leg. These instruments resemble the calung renteng of West Java.
Groups of ten players, each with a xylophone with one key suspended over a coconut resonator (kertuk kelapa), compete with similar groups in West Malaysia; two such instruments may also accompany the harvest dance. The trough-resonated xylophone, Gambang, with bedded keys is found only in the Malaysian court gamelan of Trengganu, where it accompanies the joget dance. The xylophone with keys suspended over a trough resonator is important in instrumental ensembles in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, and is also used for chamber music in Myanmar. The ranāt ēk (see Ranāt) is featured in the Thai pī phāt and mahōrī ensembles. It has 21 keys suspended over a curved resonator and resting on a pedestal. In some types of pī phāt a larger xylophone (ranāt thum) is added (fig.9); 16 keys are suspended over a rectangular shaped resonator, with sloping sides and a curved upper surface. The same type of xylophone may have been used in an ensemble that accompanied the ashek dance at the 16th- and 17th-century Malay court of Patani, and later at the Kelantan court (see Malaysia, §I, 1(iv)).
In Myanmar, the pat-talà with 20 to 25 (usually 24) keys suspended over a curved resonator and resting on a pedestal is played with the end-blown flute (palwei), or in chamber music as vocal accompaniment; it is taught by hsaìng-waìng musicians as a beginner’s instrument. It was also played at the Chinese court during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911); a description (in the Da Qing huidian, 1899) of the smaller of two Burmese ensembles that played for banquets includes the 22-key ‘pat-talà’, as well as harp, the mí-gyaùng zither, a three-string bowed lute, the palwei flute, a drum and a pair of cymbals.
The leg xylophone is found in scattered areas in west Melanesia, and is used primarily for courtship; in some areas, women are not allowed to see it. The instrument has been found on the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain, on New Ireland, the Duke of York Islands and Tami Island, and in Morobe Province of eastern Papua New Guinea. Usually two wooden keys (convex on the upper side, flat on the under side) are laid over the player’s thighs and are struck with two sticks. The player may sit with his legs over a pit or over a mound of earth; alternatively, the keys may rest on banana trees or wooden branches. Names for the instrument include tinbuk, timbuk, timbul, tinbut, timboik, tutupele, or lau lau. The two-note instrument is used for playing signal patterns. On New Ireland and the Duke of York Islands, the xylophone is played for dancing; only on Tami Island have women been known to play the xylophone. Its sound draws the attention of males undergoing initiation to the women’s presence, and thus keeps them apart.
The xylophone in Latin America, known as the ‘marimba’, is found in Mexico, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil; in Suriname (as gambang) it is used in gamelan ensembles by musicians of Javanese descent. In Brazil, however, it has lost its former importance as a solo instrument, and is now used only to accompany such dramatic dances as the congada. The two types of marimba still in use are portable and have six and eleven keys respectively, struck with wooden sticks.
In Guatemala, the marimba is the most popular folk instrument, and has come to be a symbol of the independence of the Guatemalan Republic (see Guatemala, §II, 1). It is believed to be of African origin, introduced during the early colonial period by African slaves. This argument, which is not undisputed, rests mainly on the similarity of the marimba de tecomates (the original form of the Guatemalan instrument) to African xylophones, the African derivation of the word ‘marimba’ and the lack of archaeological evidence for the existence of marimbas in pre-Columbian America.
The earliest account of the marimba in Guatemala is found in the work of Domingo Juarros, a 17th-century historian, who lists it among instruments played by Amerindians in 1680. During the 18th century it became widely dispersed among Amerindians, and its presence is noted at public events, both civil and religious. The growing popularity of the marimba among Ladinos in the 19th century led to the expansion of the keyboard to five and, later, six and seven octaves, allowing the addition of a fourth player to the normal practice of two or three players. During the celebration of national independence in 1821, the marimba took its place as the national instrument.
In the highlands of Chiapas in Mexico, in Guatemala, in north-west Costa Rica and south-west Nicaragua near Masay, marimbas show resemblance to African xylophones. The marimba de tecomates is a xylophone consisting of a keyboard of parallel tuned wooden bars or percussion plates suspended above a trapezoidal framework by cords which pass through threading pins and the nodal points of each key (fig.10). Beneath each key hangs a tuned calabash resonator, near the base of which a vibrating membrane of pig intestine is fixed to a ring of wax surrounding an aperture. This functions as a mirliton or sound modifier that produces a characteristic buzzing called charleo when the keys are struck. The older form of this marimba, the marimba de arco, is portable, and is carried by means of a strap attached to the ends of the frame and passing across the player’s shoulders. The keyboard is kept from touching the player’s body by an arched branch (arco) which is fixed to the framework on the plane of the keyboard. A later type has four legs and lacks the arco. The nearly diatonic keyboard contains 19 to 26 keys. A key’s pitch may be raised during performance by applying a lump of wax, sometimes mixed with bits of lead, to its underside. For this reason such marimbas are called marimba de ceras (‘of wax’). The keys are struck with mallets (baquetas) made of flexible wooden sticks with strips of raw rubber wrapped round the ends to form a ball. The tips of the mallets intended for bass keys are soft; those for treble keys are harder and smaller. From one to three players hold a mallet in each hand, or two in one hand, and one in the other, the pair of mallets held in one hand often striking different keys at the same time. Other pitches may be produced by striking the extreme ends of the keys with the wooden end of the mallet. While the marimba de tecomates is now seldom played by Guatemalan Ladino musicians, who prefer the more Westernized forms of the instrument, in Amerindian highland Guatemala the surviving repertory is different from that of the rest of Mexico and Central America, some of it distinct from European tradition. It serves in both public and ritual contexts.
During the last quarter of the 19th century, the marimba sencilla was developed, in which cajones harmonicos, wooden boxes constructed to resemble gourds, were substituted for the gourd resonators. In other particulars of construction and tuning, the marimba sencilla is identical to the marimba de tecomates. During this period, the marimba de cinchos (also called marimba de acero, marimba de hierro) with metal keys and box resonators, became popular, and was played with guitar accompaniment. Types with glass keys, and others with bamboo-tube resonators, were also developed.
The addition of chromatic keys to the diatonic keyboard was a late 19th-century development, usually attributed to Sebastian Hurtado in 1894. The name of this type, marimba doble, refers to the double row of keys for diatonic and chromatic pitches. Unlike the arrangement of a piano keyboard, in which sharp keys fall to the right of their corresponding naturals, in many Guatemalan instruments the sharps are placed directly behind the naturals.
The marimba doble is often played in pairs: the larger, the marimba grande, has a range of six and a half octaves (about 78 keys) and uses four players; the smaller, the marimba cuache (also called marimba picolo, marimba requinta, marimba tenor), has a range of five octaves (about 50 keys) and uses three players. To these two instruments are often added a three-string bass, snare or bass drums, cymbals, accordion and wind instruments such as saxophones, trumpets or clarinets. While the folkloric character of contemporary marimba doble ensembles is somewhat obscured by the influences of popular Latin American and North American styles on its instruments and repertory, highland village marimba sencilla ensembles still maintain traditional style and repertory.
The marimba in Colombia may have as many as 25 keys or as few as 21, though 24 is usual. The keys are made of various palm woods, but most frequently of chontaduro. Each key has a resonator consisting of a section of guadua bamboo. The keys are placed on the frame in a single row in groups of four, each group being separated from the other by a pasador (crosspiece) of chonta. The pasadores are part of the framework that supports the keys and resonators and also function as points of visual reference for the players. Beginning at the top of the keyboard with the smallest key and moving downwards, the groups of four keys are known alternately as tablas duras and tablas blandas (i.e. hard and soft). In a group of eight the highest dura and the lowest blanda form an octave. A keyboard of 24 keys is thus composed of three disjunct octave segments: 8765 4321, 7654 3217, 6543 2176. The seven highest keys are tuned to produce approximate neutral 3rds between keys 8, 6, 4, 2 and keys 7, 5, 3. The remaining keys are tuned in octaves with the keys above them. On the marimba itself the keys are of course arranged in reverse order from that indicated above. The highest octave segment is to the right and the lowest to the left. Each of the two players uses two sticks tipped with small balls of raw rubber; one plays the bordón (an ostinato lower part), the other the requinta or tiple (upper part).
The marimba-orquesta, an ensemble incorporating a marimba, is widespread; such groups are widely popularized in Mexican tourist centres. The instruments are frequently municipal property, and musicians may be exempt from certain other civic responsibilities by virtue of their service in these groups. The ensemble plays music from the son repertory, and makes constant use of Corrido accompaniments. The tradition is strongest in the state of Chiapas and, until recently, in the southern half of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec where it is being replaced by ensembles playing música tropical. The term marimba refers both to the instrument and collectively to the musicians of the ensemble, while the musicians individually are called marimbistas.
In the urban centres of Mexico and Guatemala, the marimba ensemble is principally an interpretative medium rather than a primary source of original music. In its repertory, the marimba is greatly influenced by popular styles but itself exerts little influence on other styles. It is a regional ensemble, but unlike others, it has an unlimited eclectic non-regional repertory, as well as a small, limited core repertory of sones exclusively typical of marimba ensembles. Marimba ensembles commonly play mainstream popular music including rock, tropical and other styles. The ensemble is flexible and may include electric guitars, electronic keyboards, etc. National popularity and prestige are won by those who are recorded commercially, most of whom are recruited in Chiapas, Mexico, where marimba ensembles develop markets through public performances. The majority of marimba ensembles are financially marginal. The marimba players wear no traditional costume, and seldom have accompanying singers, although the combination of mariachi ensemble and marimba is gaining popularity.
In Colombia and Ecuador, the marimba tradition is found exclusively among peoples of coastal African cultures.
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