The glass marimba is a type of idiophone also known as a vitrephone or crystallophone. Marimba translates to "a xylophone like instrument" from an African language, probably Bantu. The glass keys are made of either hard glass (plate glass) or soft glass (stained glass). The keys are resonated with either a single open top box or individual resonators for each key.Mallets used to play the marimba can be constructed using a compressed silicone ball (bouncy ball) attached to one end of a wooden or synthetic dowell. These mallets bring out the purest sound from glass marimba. Other types of mallets are used for different effects. The tuning system of a glass marimba can be whatever is desired. Glass marimbas are utilised by the Brazilian percussion ensemble, Uakti.
Read more about Glass Marimba: Construction, Glass Marimba in Film Music
Famous quotes containing the words glass and/or marimba:
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