Xylophones are fascinating percussion instruments that produce music by striking wooden bars with mallets. Each bar resonates with a specific note and is laid out similarly to piano keys.
In a broad sense, xylophones are tuned percussion instruments with wooden bars, including traditions such as the balafon and the orchestral xylophone. Marimbas are closely related wooden-bar instruments. Vibraphones and glockenspiels have metal bars, while lithophones use stone, so they are better treated as related instruments rather than types of xylophone. Yamaha compares the main mallet families.
Orchestrally speaking, the term xylophone refers to a specific chromatic instrument with a higher pitch range and drier timbre compared to the marimba.
The term xylophone often refers to children’s toys, but if the bars are metal, they’re actually metallophones.
Different Types of Xylophones
Xylophones have obscure origins, with ancient versions found in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Akadinda
The akadinda, originally from Buganda (now Uganda), began with twenty-two keys but later changed to seventeen. Made from banana stems, it stands out from other xylophones.
Historically, only the Ugandan king played it.
Amadinda
The smaller amadinda features twelve logs tuned to a pentatonic scale. Three people usually play it, with two seated opposite each other, striking the same logs.
Traditionally, only the Royal Court played it, and wealthy or significant men owned it.
Balafon
The balafon, a twenty-one key instrument from West Africa, often has keys tied with leather straps on a wooden frame with a calabash resonator beneath each key. Sometimes, the keys are simply placed on a padded surface. This versatility makes it unique.
UNESCO added Guinea’s sacred Sosso-Bala balafon to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2001, recognising the instrument as a symbol of unity for the Mandingue community whose roots trace back to the medieval Mali Empire. The original Sosso-Bala is kept in the village of Nyagassola, where the Kouyaté griot family has guarded and played it for some 800 years.
Embaire
The embaire is an African instrument with twenty-one keys. Six people play it, three on each side. Interestingly, they strike the ends of the keys rather than the middle.
Gambang
This instrument, originating in Indonesia and the Southern Philippines, ranges from 17 to 21 keys. The kayu features wooden bars, while the gangsa uses metal bars, making it technically not a xylophone.
Gyil
The gyil, originating from western Africa, is found in countries like Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Mali. This pentatonic instrument is usually played in pairs and learned by boys from a young age. Though it’s often played by two people, one person can also play it.
The gyil features fourteen wooden keys bound by antelope sinew and leather, supported by a wooden frame. Calabash gourds act as resonators. It’s played with rubber-headed wooden mallets.
Khmer
The Khmer, originating in Cambodia, is a twenty-one keyed instrument with wooden bars suspended by string. Shaped like a curved, rectangular boat, it’s unique. One variation, the roneat thung, has a low pitch and is placed next to the higher-pitched roneat ek. In Thailand, people call the Khmer the ronat.
Mbila
The Chopi people of southern Mozambique play wooden xylophones called timbila (mbila in the singular). Instruments of different sizes and ranges are combined in orchestras, rather than all following one fixed key count. Calabash resonators help give the bars their distinctive sound. UNESCO documents the Chopi timbila tradition.
The timbila, available in various sizes, are called dibindas or gulus if they get too large. Gulus use gourds as resonators because of their size. All mbila versions have nineteen keys.
Silimba
The silimba, originating from Barotseland in Zambia, features wooden keys and uses gourds as resonators.
Western Xylophone
Instruments similar to today’s xylophone were first noted in Germany in the early 1500s. The term “xylophone” wasn’t used until the 1860s. It was frequently featured in Eastern European folk music, especially in Poland.
The first xylophones featured twenty-eight wooden bars on straw supports, with spoon-shaped mallets. It grew popular in the early 1900s but was somewhat overshadowed by the metal-barred vibraphone.
Educational Xylophones
Educational xylophones are compact tuned-bar instruments used to teach rhythm, melody and ensemble playing. Their bars may be wood or a synthetic substitute. A classroom instrument with metal bars is normally called a metallophone or glockenspiel rather than a wooden-bar xylophone.
Similar Instruments
Many instruments look like xylophones but aren’t. These include marimbas, vibraphones, glockenspiels, and various metallophones. Xylophones are unique due to their wooden keys instead of metal ones.
Glockenspiel
Glockenspiels are small instruments with metal bars, playing in the upper registers. Their sheet music is usually transposed down two octaves. They offer a range of two and a half to three and a half octaves. Highly portable, they’re frequently used as accent instruments in modern orchestras.
Marimbas
Marimbas are bigger and lower in pitch than xylophones, usually featuring four or five octaves. Their thicker bars produce lower notes and a warmer tone compared to xylophones.
Like a xylophone, marimbas have bars made of wood or fiberglass. Their sheet music doesn’t need to be transposed. However, marimbas create different sounds due to their unique harmonics.
Vibraphones
Vibraphones feature metal keys and a cloth dampener, activated by a pedal, to control resonance. They also have butterfly valves on the resonators to create a vibrating sound. Vibraphones share a similar octave range with xylophones.
Xylorimba
A xylorimba is a lower-pitched xylophone with a full five octaves. Because marimbas and other percussion instruments are more common, xylorimbas are rare.
Lithophone
This instrument looks like a xylophone, but the keys are rocks of various sizes to produce different pitches. The mallets often resemble hammers rather than traditional mallets.
Kashta Tarang
The kashta tarang is an Indian instrument made from tuned wooden pieces struck with mallets. Water-filled porcelain bowls belong to the different instrument called jal tarang. The Government Museum Chennai describes the wooden kashta tarang.
Xylophone Construction
Modern western xylophones often feature keys made from rosewood, bamboo, or padauk. Some keys use fiberglass for greater volume.
Small xylophones have two and a half octaves, while standard concert xylophones range from three and a half to four octaves. Due to their limited range, xylophone music is written one octave below the sounding notes. This ensures the notes aren’t too far above the staff.
Concert xylophones feature resonators made of fiberglass or metal to sustain and enhance the tone. “Trough” xylophones have a hollow body that acts as a resonator for all keys. Frames are crafted from wood or steel tubing. Pricier stands offer height adjustment.
The keys are strung with tightly wound cord, allowing easy removal and rolling. This makes transportation and repairs simpler. Globally, people often use straw and other plant materials to string keys together.