Vibraphonist
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| Percussion instrument | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Percussion |
| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 111.222 (Directly struck idiophone) |
| Inventor(s) | Henry Schluter |
| Developed | 1927 |
| Playing range | |
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| Related instruments | |
| Marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel | |
| Musicians | |
| Gary Burton, Lionel Hampton, Stefon Harris, Bobby Hutcherson, Milt Jackson, Mike Freeman, Joe Locke, Steve Nelson, Tito Puente, Pascal Schumacher, Dave Samuels, Mark Sherman, Cal Tjader, Tommy Vig, Warren Wolf, Roy Ayers | |
| Builders | |
| Musser, Yamaha, Adams Musical Instruments, Saito | |
The vibraphone (also known as the vibraharp or simply the vibes) is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family.
The vibraphone resembles the xylophone, marimba, and glockenspiel. Each bar is paired with a resonator tube that has a motor-driven butterfly valve at its upper end. The valves are mounted on a common shaft, which produces a tremolo or vibrato effect while spinning. The vibraphone also has a sustain pedal similar to that on a piano. With the pedal up, the bars are all damped and produce a shortened sound. With the pedal down, they sound for several seconds.
The vibraphone is commonly used in jazz music, in which it often plays a featured role and was a defining element of the sound of mid-20th-century "Tiki lounge" exotica, as popularized by Arthur Lyman. It is the second most popular solo keyboard percussion instrument in classical music, after the marimba, and is part of the standard college-level percussion performance education. It is a standard instrument in the modern percussion section for orchestras and concert bands.
The first musical instrument called "vibraphone" was marketed by the Leedy Manufacturing Company in the United States in 1921. However, this instrument differed in significant details from the instrument now called the vibraphone. The Leedy vibraphone achieved a degree of popularity after it was used in the novelty recordings of "Aloha 'Oe" and "Gypsy Love Song" by vaudeville performer Louis Frank Chiha ("Signor Frisco").
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