Have you ever heard of the Vibraphone? Our piano keyboards in our KRF classroom have a special setting called the vibraphone which is similar in appearance to the xylophone, marimba, and glockenspiel. The vibraphone, like the piano, is considered a percussion instrument. Most people think a percussion instrument is only found in the drum family, but it is actually any instrument that is played by striking.
Vibraphones have been around since 1927, and were designed by an American named Henry Schluter.
The instrument looks like a piano with large brown-colored aluminum keys, arranged like the piano, but without the black and white colors. It even has a damper peddle like a piano. Since the keys are too large to be played with fingers, mallets are used to play them. Under the keys are metal tubes called resonators. Like a pipe organ, the size determines the pitch. They can be tuned. There is also a small motor to drive a disk inside the resonator.
Now when you select vibraphone on a keyboard, pretend that your fingers are long mallets hitting large keys that will resonate tubes.
Vicki Woods
Piano/Keyboard Instructor