Vibraphone

The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the percussion family.

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It is similar in appearance to the xylophone, although the vibraphone uses metal bars instead of the wooden bars on the xylophone. The standard modern instrument has a range of three octaves, from the F below middle C. Larger four octave models from the C below middle C are also becoming more common. The vibraphone is commonly played with cord or yarn mallets.

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Below each bar is a resonator, a resonant metal tube, with a metal disc of a slightly smaller diameter located at the top. The discs in each tube are connected via a rod which can be made to rotate with an electric motor. When the motor is on and a note is struck, the notes acquire a tremolo sound as the resonators are covered and uncovered by the rotating discs. The player can vary the speed of the tremolo. At slower speeds, the effect sounds more like a "wah-wah-wah." At faster speeds the tremolo is more pronounced. With the motor off, the vibraphone has a mellow, bell-like sound. The "vibrato" sound effect is what the vibraphone was named after. Because the amplitude is what varies, not the pitch, the name of the instrument is somewhat of a misnomer. The sound is dated and many modern vibists eschew the effect altogether.

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The vibraphone also has a sustain pedal similar to that used on a piano. When the pedal is up, the bars are all damped and the sound of each bar is quite short; with the pedal down, they will sound for several seconds, so frequent rapid pedalling is common when playing a vibraphone.

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The vibraphone became famous through its long association with jazz which began after its invention in the USA in 1921. However, the vibraphone has since been used in many other musical idioms, including popular music.

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For a list of famous players, see vibraphonist.

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Musical instrument: A musical instrument is a device that has been constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound, and can somehow be controlled by a musician, can serve as a musical instrument; but the expression is reserved generally to items that have that specif...

Percussion: Percussion may refer to:...

Xylophone: The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family which probably originated in Indonesia (Nettl 1956, p.98). It consists of wooden bars of various lengths that are struck by a plastic, wooden, or rubber mallet. Each bar is tuned to a specific pitch of the chromatic scale. The arrangemen...