What is a metallophone and how to choose it?
Music lessons are perfect for your child's development. The first musical instruments should be relatively simple. Xylophones and metallophones are perfect for this. Both tools have certain features, which we will discuss in this article.
What it is?
Since the metallophone is a special case of the xylophone, we will first describe the xylophone in more detail.
The xylophone is a self-sounding musical instrument of the percussion group. It is a row of chromatically tuned wooden blocks. These sticks have different sizes and thus different sounds as they are tuned to different notes.
The progenitor of the xylophone is the Asian glockenspiel. A the first xylophones are mentioned as early as the 15th century in Europe.
It should be noted that this tool is popular all over the world. However, he gained wider fame in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.
To produce sound, you need to hit it with special wooden hammers or sticks with spherical tips.
The metallophone is a percussion musical instrument. It looks like a xylophone, but consists of metal plates that are arranged horizontally around the perimeter of the wooden case. Sound is extracted in the same way as on a xylophone.
Nowadays there are quite a few musical instruments in which the sound is generated from the vibration of an elastic metal body.
One of the variations of the metallophone is the vibraphone. Its peculiarity lies in the presence of keys and an electric motor.It controls the vanes, which regulate the holes in the resonators (metal and empty pipes with a bottom at the bottom). They are located under the keys and make the vibration effect along with the sound volume.
The main material used in the metallophone is brass or bronze. And in terms of their characteristics, the xylophone and the metallophone are quite similar.
How is it different from a xylophone?
As already mentioned, the main difference between musical instruments is in the material from which the plates are made.
And also the differences are observed in the sound of the instruments. The advantage of the metallophone is a louder sound. The xylophone is quieter, but it sounds more interesting. The xylophone sound is muffled but pleasant.
It should be said that the xylophone is often used in a symphony orchestra, it is a more professional instrument. The metallophone, as its particular case, is most often used as an amateur instrument.
For a metallophone, to distinguish notes, each plate is painted in its own specific color. This is usually done for children's models of instruments. With these tools, you can train young children’s hearing and sense of rhythm.
The metallophone is commonly used in genres of music such as indie, pop, or classical music.
What are they?
There is a wide variety of metallophones and xylophones. Both types of these instruments are diatonic and chromatic. The diatonic view is a series of plates. They repeat the arrangement of the white keys on the piano.
The chromatic type is more complex. Their plates are in two rows by analogy with white and black piano keys. Accordingly, such a tool will have broader capabilities.
It should be said that nowadays tools with wooden plates are also used. The xylophone is a more professional and adult version of the instrument, while the metallophone is for children.
By the number of tones, metallophones are of 8, 10, 12 and 15 tones. By the number of notes, instruments are produced for 15 and 25 notes. In general, there is a huge variety of metallophones: small and large, outdoor, collapsible and even keyboards. It all depends on what you need it for and where exactly you are going to use it.
Selection Tips
When buying a metallophone, a lot will depend on your preferences. One of the main characteristics when choosing a musical instrument is its sound. And it should be of very high quality if you plan to develop a good ear for music in yourself or another person.
How do you learn to play?
The peculiarity of playing the metallophone is to hit the plates with special sticks in the prescribed manner. It is very important that both hands are used during the game. The blows must take turns.
Music on the metallophone sounds unusual and beautiful. With a little skill in the learning process, it is possible to play the first melody quite quickly.
It should be noted that the playing technique is determined by the construction of the instrument. First, you need to install it correctly. Place the metallophone on a small stand at knee level.
When playing the metallophone, the hammer is usually held on the index finger, while the thumb is holding it on top. The blow should be done with a light movement in the very middle of the plate with a free brush.
How to hold the sticks?
The metallophone comes with two percussion sticks with balls at the ends. They should each be held in one hand at the very beginning, according to the principle of drumming.
Extracting sounds
Sounds are produced on these instruments using special sticks - malts or small hammers. The handle is long and thin, made of plastic or wood.
The head of the sticks is small, round or oval in shape. The material used for the production of male heads is dense and tough.The sound of the metallophone also depends on it. The sound also depends on the size of the instrument, and on the acoustics of the room in which it is located.
Plates in the metallophone have different lengths. This is due to the fact that the pitch of the sound depends on the length. The longer the plate, the lower the sound will be.
It should be said that currently there are 8 levels of stick hardness for playing these instruments. And the expressive possibilities of such percussion instruments are quite large.
