For years I joked I was going to learn how to play the xylophone, so I could attract groupies with big boobs. Imagine the ludicrous site of an elderly man (I’m 63) capturing a following of voluptuous women by mastering an instrument that went out of fashion 80 years ago. I really do love the way the xylophone sounds though, and when my wife requested a keyboard for Christmas, I decided I would use it to learn how to read music, then really learn how to play the xylophone. I purchased a glockenspiel instead because it was cheaper, and now I’m learning easy songs and riffs to play on it. I became curious about these types of instruments and researched the origins of them. Striking different keys to get different sounds is an ancient concept, likely pre-historic.
Xylophones may have been invented separately in Africa and Southeast Asia, though I hypothesize an early form of xylophone may have been brought out of Africa when the first Homo sapiens left the continent 50,000 years ago. The earliest known xylophone existed in Southeast Asia 1200 years ago. It’s similar to the harmonium, an instrument known to have existed in China 4000 years ago. A harmonium is simply a xylophone with vertical keys instead of horizontal keys. Xylophone is a Latin word meaning wood sound. The earliest mention of a xylophone in Europe dates to 1511. Folk musicians in Central Europe played xylophones 200 years earlier than this, and they likely adopted the instrument following the Mongol invasions by the Khan dynasty. The Mongols massacred many Europeans, but eventually opened up a cultural exchange, bringing Chinese trade, after they were done killing and pillaging.
This is a primitive type of marimba with fire-cured wooden keys and gourds used as resonators.
A panharmonicon with vertical keys instead of horizontal.
African slaves brought knowledge of how to build marimbas to Guatemala and southern Mexico about 500 years ago.
The vibraphone was invented in 1921 and is simply a marimba with metal keys instead of wooden.
An early form of glockenspiel. A glockenspiel is a xylophone with metal keys instead of wooden. They are also called bells. Bells can be used instead of metal keys.
A marimba is a xylophone with resonator pipes below the keys. The earliest known occurrence of the marimba is from southern Mexico and Guatemala in 1545. The technology to build a marimba came from African slaves who played the instrument. Africans fire-roasted wooden boards and placed them over gourds. Today, marimbas use metal pipes instead of gourds. The length of the boards determines which key they sound like.
Herman Winterhoff invented the vibraphone in 1921, and this instrument surpassed the popularity of the xylophone and marimba among jazz musicians during the big band era. A vibraphone is simply a marimba with metal keys instead of wooden keys, and they also have resonator pipes below the keys. Lionel Hampton popularized the vibraphone during the big band jazz era of the time, and he was a popular member of the Benny Goodman Orchestra.
I figured out how to play the riff used when Benny and Lionel alternate solos. I think I’m going to have to learn Hampton’s solos by watching old videos of him playing because I don’t think his parts are written down.
Augusta Martiel invented the modern glockenspiel during 1886, but it is based on an ancient Chinese use of bells to produce melodies. Some musicians simply refer to a glockenspiel as bells. A glockenspiel is a xylophone with metal instead of wooden keys.
I’ve been learning to play songs on the glockenspiel for about a month now. Glockenspiels cost about half as much as a vibraphone, but once I improve and can play 500 songs, I might spring for one. I think they sound nicer. I’ve learned to play “When the Saints Go Marching In,” “God Bless America,” “House of the Rising Sun,” “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” “The Girl from Ipanema,” “Hall of the Mountain King,” “Werewolves of London,” and “Something” and “Ob La Di Ob La Da” by the Beatles. I can play several cool rhythm and blues riffs, and the basic bass line for most 1950’s rock songs. I figured out how to play a Lionel Hampton riff from Benny Goodman’s “Stealing Apples. My goal is to someday play as well as him. I’ve struggled figuring out how to play “Under my Thumb.” I think I have the notes correct, but the Rolling Stones used a marimba, and the song just doesn’t sound right on a glockenspiel.
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