Percussion · Keyboard percussion
Vibraphone
Aluminium bars over resonator tubes with rotating discs that add a vibrato. A pedal-operated damper lets notes ring or stops them.
- Section
- Percussion
- Family
- Keyboard percussion
- Classification
- Idiophone · struck bars
- Transposition
- None (concert pitch)
- Clefs
- Treble; grand staff for chords
- Sounding range
- F3 – F6
Parts of the vibraphone
A player holding four mallets. Photo: Drumdudecp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Labels added by Musicians Tools.
Range
C1C2C3C4C5C6C7C8
Sounds as written. Playback uses a neutral tone, not the instrument's own sound.
Writing for the vibraphone
- Written at concert pitch, in treble clef or on a grand staff for chords.
- The damper pedal controls sustain; mark it like piano pedalling.
- The motor speed sets the vibrato; with the motor off the tone is pure and bell-like.
- A bar bowed with a bass bow gives a pure, ringing tone.
History
The vibraphone was invented in the United States around 1921 and made famous by jazz players such as Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson. Berg's opera Lulu is one of its first appearances in the orchestra.
Listen
Key works featuring the vibraphone. Each link opens a YouTube search, so you can pick the recording you like.
Useful tools
Keyboard percussion
Also in the family (pages coming):Crotales