Vibraphone

The vibraphone is a musical instrument in the struck

idiophone subfamily of the percussion family. It consists Vibraphone
of tuned metal bars and is usually played by holding two
or four soft mallets and striking the bars. A person who
plays the vibraphone is called a vibraphonist,
vibraharpist, or vibist.[1]

The vibraphone resembles the marimbaphone and steel

marimba, which it superseded.[2] One of the main
differences between the vibraphone and other keyboard
percussion instruments is that each bar suspends over a
resonator tube with a motor-driven butterfly valve at the
top. The valves connect together on a common axle, Percussion instrument
which produces a tremolo or vibrato effect while the
Other names Vibes, Vibraharp,
motor rotates the axle. The vibraphone also has a sustain
Vibraceleste
pedal similar to a piano. With the pedal up, the bars
produce a muted sound. With the pedal down, the bars Classification Percussion
sustain for several seconds, or until muted with the Hornbostel–Sachs 111.222
pedal. classification (Directly struck
The vibraphone is commonly used in jazz music, in idiophone)
which it often plays a featured role and was a defining Inventor(s) Henry Schluter
element of the sound of mid-20th-century "Tiki lounge"
Developed 1927
exotica, as popularized by Arthur Lyman. It is the second
most popular solo keyboard percussion instrument in Playing range
classical music, after the marimba, and it is part of the
standard college-level percussion performance
education. It is a standard instrument in the modern
percussion section for orchestras, concert bands, and
marching bands (as part of the front ensemble).[3][4]
Related instruments
Marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel
Contents Musicians

History Gary Burton, Lionel Hampton, Ruth

Underwood, Stefon Harris, Bobby
Manufacturers
Hutcherson, Milt Jackson, Mike
Range Freeman, Joe Locke, Steve Nelson,
Construction Pascal Schumacher, Dave Samuels,
Bars Mark Sherman, Cal Tjader, Tommy Vig,
Resonators Warren Wolf, Roy Ayers, Manu
Damper mechanism Dibango, David Friedman
Motors Builders
Frame Musser, Yamaha, Adams Musical
 Mallets Instruments, Saito, Marimba One

Technique
Two-mallet style 0:00 MENU
Four-mallet style
An F-major scale played on a
Specialty techniques vibraphone with the motors on
Five or six mallets
Bowing
Classical works with the vibraphone
Use in film scores
See also
References
Further reading
External links

History
Around 1916, instrument maker Herman Winterhoff, of the
Leedy Manufacturing Company, began experimenting with
"vox humana" effects on a three octave (F-F) steel
marimba.[5][6] By attaching a motor, he could create vibrato
effects, hence the name "vibraphone". This instrument was
marketed by the Leedy Manufacturing Company in the
United States starting in 1924.[7] However, this instrument
differed significantly from the instrument now called the
vibraphone. The Leedy vibraphone did not have a pedal
mechanism and had bars made of steel rather than
aluminum. The Leedy vibraphone achieved a degree of
popularity after it was used in the novelty recordings of
"Aloha 'Oe" and "Gypsy Love Song" in 1924 by vaudeville
performer Louis Frank Chiha.[8][9]

The popularity of Leedy's instrument led competitor J.C.

Deagan, Inc., the inventor of the original steel marimba
which Leedy's design was based on, to ask its chief tuner, Former headquarters of J.C.
Henry Schluter, to develop a similar instrument in 1927. Deagan, Inc. in Chicago, where
However, instead of just copying the Leedy design, Schluter Henry Schluter invented the
introduced several significant improvements: making the vibraphone. Now (2008) home to
bars from aluminum instead of steel for a more "mellow" Century Mallet Instrument Service.
tone, adjustments to the dimensions and tuning of the bars
to eliminate the dissonant harmonics in the Leedy design
(further mellowing the tone), and the introduction of a foot-controlled damper bar allowing
musicians to play it with more expression. Schluter's design became more popular than the
Leedy design and has become the template for all instruments now called "vibraphone".[10]
 However, when Deagan began
marketing Schluter's instrument in
1928, they called it the
"vibraharp". [11] Since Deagan
trademarked the name, other
manufacturers were forced to use
the earlier name "vibraphone" for
their instruments incorporating the
newer design.

The use of the vibraphone in jazz

was popularized by Lionel Hampton,
Lionel Hampton playing the a jazz drummer from California.[12]
vibraphone in 1946 At one recording session with
bandleader Louis Armstrong,
Hampton was asked to play a
vibraphone that had been left behind in the studio.[13] This
resulted in the recording of the song "Memories of You" in 1930,
a song often considered to be the first instance of an improvised
vibraphone solo.[14][15]

The first classical composers to use the vibraphone were Alban

Berg, who used it prominently in his opera Lulu in 1935,[16][17]
and William Grant Still, who used it in his piece Kaintuck' in the
same year.[18] While the vibraphone has not been used quite as
extensively in the realm of classical music, it can often be heard
Ad from International Musician
in theatre or film music, such as in Bernstein's West Side Story.
for a vibraharp, November
1928
The initial purpose of the vibraphone was to add to the large
arsenal of percussion sounds used by vaudeville orchestras for
novelty effects. This use was quickly overwhelmed in the 1930s by its development as a jazz
instrument. As of 2020, it retains its use as a jazz instrument and is established as a major
keyboard percussion instrument, often used for solos, in chamber ensembles, and in modern
orchestral compositions.[3][19]

Manufacturers
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, each manufacturer attracted its own following in various
specialties, but the Deagan vibraphones were the models preferred by many of the emerging
class of specialist jazz players. Deagan struck endorsement deals with many of the leading
players, including Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson. The Deagan company went out of
business in the 1980s and its trademark and patents were purchased by Yamaha.[20] Yamaha
continues to make percussion instruments based on the Deagan designs.[21]

In 1948, the Musser Mallet Company was founded by Clair Omar Musser, who had been a
designer at Deagan. The Musser company continues to manufacture vibraphones as part of the
Ludwig Drum Company and is considered by many to be the industry standard.[22]
As of 2020, there are numerous manufacturers of the vibraphone that make vibraphones with
ranges up to 4 octaves (C3–C7). The list includes Adams, Bergerault, DeMorrow, Majestic,
Malletech, Marimba One, Musser, Premier, and Yamaha.

Range
The standard modern instrument has a range of three
octaves, from the F below middle C (F3 to F6 in
scientific pitch notation). Larger 31⁄2- or 4-octave
models from the C below middle C are also becoming
more common (C3 to F6 or C7). Unlike its cousin the
glockenspiel, it is a non-transposing instrument,
generally written at concert pitch. However, composers
occasionally (for example, Olivier Messiaen) write parts
to sound an octave higher.

In the 1930s several manufacturers made soprano

vibraphones with a range C4 to C7, notably the Ludwig
& Ludwig Model B110 and the Deagan Model 144.
Deagan also made a portable model that had a 21⁄2-
octave range and resonators made of cardboard (Model
30).[23]
The Musser M-55 Pro Vibe, the flagship of
Musser's vibraphone line, is played by
professionals and in schools around the
United States

Construction
The major components of a vibraphone are the bars, resonators, damper mechanism, motor,
and the frame. Vibraphones are usually played with mallets.

Bars
Vibraphone bars are made from aluminum bar stock,
cut into blanks of predetermined length. Holes are
drilled through the width of the bars, so they can be
suspended by a cord, typically parachute cord. To
maximize the sustain of the bars, the holes are placed at
approximately the nodal points of the bar (i.e. the
points of minimum amplitude, around which the bar
vibrates). For a uniform bar, the nodal points are
located 22.4% from each end of the bar.[24]

Material is ground away from underside of the bars in Interior of vibes exposed, showing deep
an arch shape to lower the pitch. This allows the lower- arch and tuning marks in bar bottom,
resonators, disks, damper bar and pins for
pitched bars to be a manageable length. It is also the key
holding bars
to the "mellow" sound of the vibraphone (and marimba,
which uses the same deep arch) compared with the
brighter xylophone, which uses a shallower arch, and the glockenspiel, which has no arch at all.
These rectangular bars have three primary modes of vibration.[24] The deep arch causes these
modes to align and create a consonant arrangement of intervals: a fundamental pitch, a pitch
two octaves above that, and a third pitch an octave and a major third above the second. For the
F3 bar that usually forms the lowest note on a vibraphone, there would be F3 as the
fundamental, F5 as the first overtone and A6 as the second overtone.[24] As a side effect, the
arch causes the nodal points of the fundamental vibration to shift closer towards the ends of the
bar.

After beveling or rounding the edges, fine-tuning adjustments are made. If a bar is flat, its
overall pitch structure can be raised by removing material from the ends of the bar. Once this
slightly sharp bar is created, the secondary and tertiary tones can be lowered by removing
material from specific locations of the bar.[24] Vibraphones are tuned to a standard of
A = 442 Hz or A = 440 Hz, depending on the manufacturer or in some cases the customer's
preference.

Like marimbas, professional vibraphones have bars of

graduated width. Lower bars are made from wider
stock, and higher notes from narrower stock, to help
balance volume and tone across the range of the
instrument. The bars are anodized, typically in silver or
gold color, after fine-tuning and may have a smooth or
brushed (matte) finish. These are cosmetic features with
a negligible effect on the sound.

Resonators
Vibraphones with graduated (foreground)
Resonators are thin-walled tubes, typically made of and ungraduated (background) bars
aluminum, but any suitably strong material can be used.
They are open at one end and closed at the other. Each
bar is paired with a resonator whose diameter is slightly wider than the width of the bar and
whose length to the closure is one-quarter of the wavelength of the fundamental frequency of
the bar.[24] When the bar and resonator are properly in tune with each other, the vibrating air
beneath the bar travels down the resonator and is reflected from the closure at the bottom, then
returns to the top and is reflected back by the bar, over and over, creating a much stronger
standing wave and increasing the amplitude of the fundamental frequency. The resonators,
besides raising the upper end of the vibraphone's dynamic range, also affect the overall tone of
the vibraphone, since they amplify the fundamental, but not the upper partials.

Oftentimes, vibraphones, and other mallet instruments, will include non-functional, decorative
resonator tubes with no corresponding bar above to make the instrument look more full.[25]

There is a trade-off between the amplifying effect of the resonators and the length of sustain of a
ringing bar. The energy in a ringing bar comes from the initial mallet strike, and that energy can
either be used to make the bar ring louder initially, or not as loudly but for a longer period of
time. This is not an issue with marimbas and xylophones, where the natural sustain time of the
wooden bars is short, but vibraphone bars can ring for many seconds after being struck, and
this effect is highly desirable in many circumstances. Therefore, the resonators in a vibraphone
are usually tuned slightly off-pitch to create a balance between loudness and sustain.[26]

A unique feature of vibraphone resonators is a shaft of rotating discs, commonly called fans,
across the top. When the fans are open, the resonators have full function. When the fans are
closed, the resonators are partially occluded, reducing the resonance of the fundamental pitch.
A drive belt connects the shafts to an electric motor beneath the playing surface and rotates the
fans. This rotation of the fans creates a vibrato effect along with some volume changes creating
a tremolo effect.[27][28]

In 1970, Deagan introduced a model "Electravibe", which dispensed with resonator tubes
entirely and took a signal directly from the bars, adding a tremolo in a preamplifier. This sought
to improve the portability of the instrument and solve the problem inherent in all tuned mallet
instruments; miking the bars evenly.

Damper mechanism
For the first few years of production, the original Leedy Vibraphone did not include a
mechanism for damping, or stopping, the sustaining tones. In 1927, the J.C. Deagan company
introduced a pedal mechanism that has not changed substantially since.[27] A rigid bar beneath
the center of the instrument is pressed upward by an adjustable spring and engages a long felt
pad against the sharps and the naturals. A foot pedal lowers the bar and allows notes to ring
freely; releasing the pedal engages the damper and stops any vibrating notes. One common flaw
of this damping mechanism is that the bar is often supported at one point in the middle, causing
it to damp the instrument unevenly in the upper and lower registers. To combat this, some
manufacturers have made silicone- or liquid-filled damper pads whose fluid shape can conform
evenly around the bars.[29][30]

Motors
Vibraphones usually have an electric motor and pulley assembly mounted on one side or the
other to drive the disks in the resonators. Often, mainly in classical music or in non-jazz
ensembles like a percussion ensemble or front ensemble, the vibraphone is played with the
motor off and the disks not moving. In those cases having the motor off is the norm and is not
used unless specifically called for.[31][32][33][34]

The early vibraphones used motors that were intended to power record-player turntables[8] and
had limited or no speed-adjustment capabilities. Whatever speed adjustments were possible
were made by moving the drive belt among a small number of pulleys (usually three) of varying
diameters. Later, variable-speed AC motors became available at reasonable prices. These
motors allow the adjustment of the rotating speed by a potentiometer mounted on a control
panel near the motor. They typically support rotation rates in the range 1–12 Hz. These motors
remained the preferred solution until the 1990s and are still in use by some manufacturers.

During the 1990s, some manufacturers began using computer-controlled stepping motors.
These motors are capable of slower rotating speeds, approaching 0 Hz. The computer control
also allows operations that are not possible with an analog motor, such as the ability to
synchronize the rotation of the two resonator sets and stop the rotation at a desired state (e.g.
all open, all closed, all half-open, etc.).[35]

Frame
The vibraphone frame offers a number of challenges to designers. It must be sturdy enough to
endure the torsional forces created by the damper/spring/pedal assembly and the stresses of
repeated transport and playing, while still being light enough for easy transport. Considering
the weight of the bars alone, this does not leave much margin for the frame. The bars must also
be securely attached to the frame, but not rigidly. Each bar must have some independent flex for
it to ring.

The motor is attached to the frame at one end. The hinges for the damper bar are attached at
each end, and the spring assembly and the pedal are usually aligned in the middle. Two banks of
resonator tubes are laid into grooves in the frame so that they straddle the damper bar. The
resonators are not firmly fastened to the frame. The ends of the shafts that gang the disks are
connected to the drive of the motor through a drive belt similar to an O-ring.

A bed for the bars is made by laying four wooden rails onto pins on the end blocks. Like the
resonators, these rails do not firmly attach to the frame. Each rail has a series of pins with
rubber spacers that support the bars. The bars are arranged into two groups, and a soft cord
passes through the nodal holes in the bars of each group. These bars lay between the support
pins, with the cord hooking the pins. On the outside rails, the pins have U-shaped hooks, and
the cord rests in the bend. the inside pins have a hook that grasps the cord and holds the bars in
place against the force of the damper pad. The two ends of the cord attach with a spring at one
end to provide tension and flex.[36]

Mallets
Vibraphone mallets usually consist of a rubber ball core
wrapped in yarn or cord and attached to a narrow dowel,
most commonly made of rattan or birch and sometimes of
fiberglass or nylon. Mallets suitable for the vibraphone are
also generally suitable for the marimba.

The mallets can have a great effect on the tonal

characteristics of the sound produced, ranging from a bright
metallic clang to a mellow ring with no obvious initial
Typical vibraphone mallets
attack. Consequently, a wide array of mallets is available,
offering variations in hardness, head size, weight, shaft
length, and flexibility.

Classical players must carry a wide range of mallet types to accommodate the changing
demands of composers who are looking for particular sounds. Jazz players, on the other hand,
often make use of multi-purpose mallets to allow for improvisation.[37]

Technique
The world of vibraphone players can be roughly divided into those who play with two mallets
and those who play with four. The division is not strict: many players switch between two, three
and four mallets depending on the demands of their current musical situations.

Two-mallet style
The two-mallet approach to vibes is traditionally linear, playing like a horn rather than comping
like a guitar or piano. Two-mallet players usually concentrate on playing a single melodic line
and rely on other musicians to provide accompaniment. Double stops (two notes played
simultaneously) are sometimes used, but mostly as a reinforcement of the main melodic line,
similar to the usual use of double stops in solo violin music. In jazz groups, two-mallet
vibraphonists are usually considered part of the "front line" with the horn players, contributing
solos of their own but contributing very little in the way of accompaniment to other soloists.

Two-mallet players use several different grips, with the most

common being a palms-down grip, which is basically the
same as the matched grip used by drummers. The mallets
are held between the thumb and index finger of each hand,
with the remaining three fingers of each hand pressing the
shafts into the down-facing palms. Strokes use a
combination of wrist movement and fingertip control of the
shaft.

Another popular grip is similar to French grip, a grip used Busker playing a Metallophone with
on timpani. The mallets are again held between the thumb the resonators removed, presumably
and index fingers and controlled with the remaining three to ease transportation.
fingers, but the palms are held vertically, facing inward
towards each other. Most of the stroke action comes from
the finger-tip control of the shafts.

Passages are usually played hand-to-hand with double-

sticking (playing two notes in a row with the same hand)
used when convenient in minimizing crossing the hands.

The player must pay close attention to the damper pedal to

play cleanly and avoid multiple notes ringing
unintentionally at the same time. Because the notes ring for Milt Jackson, around 1980. Note his
a significant fraction of a second when struck with the characteristic palms-inward two-
damper pad up, and ringing bars do not stop ringing mallet grip.
immediately when contacted by the pad, players use a
technique called after pedaling.[38] In this technique, the
player presses the damper pedal slightly after striking the bar—shortly enough so the recently
struck note continues to ring, but long enough so that the previous note stops ringing.

In another damper technique—half pedaling—the player depresses the pedal just enough to
remove the spring pressure from the bars, but not enough to make the pad lose contact with the
bars. This lets the bars ring slightly longer than with the pad fully up and can make a medium-
fast passage sound more legato without pedaling every note.

Four-mallet style
The four-mallet vibraphone style is multi-linear, like a piano. "Thinking like a pianist, arranger,
and orchestrator, the vibist approaches the instrument like a piano and focuses on a multi-
linear way of playing."[39] In jazz groups, four-mallet vibraphonists are often considered part of
the rhythm section, typically substituting for piano or guitar and providing accompaniment for
other soloists in addition to soloing themselves. Furthermore, the four-mallet style has led to a
significant body of unaccompanied solo vibes playing. One notable example is Gary Burton’s
performance of "Chega de Saudade (No More Blues)" from his Grammy-winning 1971 album
"Alone at Last".[40]

Although some early vibes players made use of four mallets, notably Red Norvo, Adrian Rollini,
and sometimes Lionel Hampton, the fully pianistic four-mallet approach to jazz on the
vibraphone is almost entirely the creation of Burton. Many of the key techniques of the four-
mallet style, such as multi-linear playing and the advanced damping techniques described
below, are easily applied to playing with two mallets and some modern two-mallet players have
adapted these devices to their playing, somewhat blurring the distinctions between modern
two- and four-mallet players.

The most popular four-mallet grip for vibraphone is the

Burton grip, named for Gary Burton. One mallet is held
between the thumb and index finger and the other is held
between the index and middle fingers. The shafts cross in
the middle of the palm and extend past the heel of the hand.
For wide intervals, the thumb often moves in between the
two mallets, and the inside mallet is held in the crook of the
fingers.

Also popular is the Stevens grip, named for marimbist Leigh

Howard Stevens. Many other grips are in use, some
variations on the Burton or Stevens, others idiosyncratic
creations of individual vibes players. One common variation
of the Burton grip places the outside mallet between the
middle and ring fingers instead of between the index and
middle.[41]

Four-mallet vibists
Vibraphonist Gary Burton and usually play scalar linear
guitarist Julian Lage. Note Burton's passages much the same
four-mallet grip. as two-mallet players,
using one mallet from
each hand (outside right
and inside left for Burton grip), except that four-mallet
players tend to make more use of double strokes, not only to
avoid crossing hands, but also to minimize motion between
the two bar rows. For example, an ascending E flat major Vibraphonist Joe Locke's
scale could be played L-R-R-L-L-R-R-L, keeping the left idiosyncratic four-mallet grip. Many
hand on the "black" bars and the right hand on the "white". vibes players adapt the "standard"
For linear passages with leaps, all four mallets are often grips by varying degrees.
used sequentially.[39]

Pedaling techniques are at least as important for the four-mallet vibist as for two-mallet players,
but the all-or-nothing damping system of the pedal/pad presents many obstacles to multi-linear
playing, since each line normally has its own damping requirements independent of the other
lines. To overcome this, four-mallet players use a set of damping techniques referred to as
"mallet damping", in addition to the pedaling techniques used by two-mallet players. There are
many benefits of being proficient in this technique as a vibraphonist. As it allows a player to
hold out one chord and add or subtract any individual pitch desired, a vibist can transition
between chords much more smoothly than a pianist who cannot stop a string from vibrating
without reaching inside the instrument when the pedal is down. Most modern vibraphonists are
highly skilled in this technique. The mallet damping techniques "are to the vibist as garlic and
fresh basil are to the Northern Italian chef" and contribute significantly to expressive four-
mallet playing.[42]

Mallet damping includes "dead strokes", where a player strikes a bar and then, instead of
drawing the mallet back, directly presses the head of the mallet onto the bar, causing the ringing
to stop immediately. This produces a fairly distinctive "choked" sound, and dead strokes are
often used just for that particular sound in addition to the damping aspects.[43]

In hand-to-hand damping, the vibist plays a note with one mallet, while simultaneously
pressing another mallet onto a previously ringing bar. Usually the damping mallet and the
striking mallet are held in different hands, but advanced players can, in some circumstances,
use two mallets from the same hand.[44] This is the most powerful of the mallet damping
techniques, as it can be used to damp any note on the instrument while simultaneously striking
any other note.[42]

Slide damping can be used to damp a note that is physically adjacent to the new note being
struck. The player strikes the new note and then controls the rebound of the mallet so that it
slides over and onto the note to be damped.[42] Sometimes slide damping can make the new
note sound "bent" or as if there is a glissando from the damped note to the ringing one, as the
two notes normally ring together for some short period of time.

Hand damping (also known as finger damping) can be used to damp a white note while striking
a nearby black note.[42] As the player strikes a black note with a mallet, they simultaneously
press the heel of their hand or the side of their pinky finger onto the ringing white bar, using the
same hand to strike the black note and damp the white note. Using both hands, it's possible to
damp and strike two notes at once.

Specialty techniques

Five or six mallets

To achieve denser sound and richer chord voicings, some

vibraphonists have experimented with three mallets per
hand, either in both hands for a total of six mallets or in just
the left hand for a total of five.
Vibraphone mallets

Bowing

Like many other metallophones, percussionists can use an orchestral bow on the vibraphone to
achieve sustained tones that neither decay, nor have a percussive attack.[45][46]

Classical works with the vibraphone

Although the vibraphone has been predominantly used for
jazz music, many classical pieces have been composed using
the instrument, either as featured soloist or with a
prominent part. Notable works include:

Ferde Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite (1931)

Alban Berg: Lulu (1935)
Roy Harris: Symphony No. 3 (1939)
Morton Gould: Harvest, for vibraphone, harp, and strings
(1945) Matthias Lupri using two cello bows
Darius Milhaud: Concerto for marimba, vibraphone, and on a vibraphone with electronic
orchestra, Op. 278 (1947) pickups, Vancouver Jazz Festival
Benjamin Britten: Spring Symphony (1948–1949) 2005
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Sinfonia antartica (Symphony
No. 7) (1952)
Alan Hovhaness: The Flowering Peach, incidental music
to the play by Clifford Odets, for clarinet, alto
saxophone, timpani, tam-tam, vibraphone, glockenspiel,
harp, and celesta, Op. 125 (1954)
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 8 (1955)
Pierre Boulez: Le marteau sans maître for contralto and
six instrumentalists, with prominent part for vibraphone
(1955)
Benjamin Britten: The Prince of the Pagodas (1957) An early-1940s orchestra of
Siegfried Fink: Concerto for vibraphone and orchestra marimbists and a vibraphonist
(1958–59)
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Refrain, for piano, vibraphone,
and celesta (1959)
William Walton: Symphony No. 2 (1960)
Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (1961)
Jean Barraqué: Concerto for vibraphone, clarinet, and six instrumental groups (1962–68)
René Leibowitz: Trois Caprices for vibraphone op.70 (1966)
Igor Stravinsky: Requiem Canticles (1966)
Mieczysław Weinberg: The Passenger (1968)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 14 (1969)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15 (1971)
Alan Hovhaness: Spirit Cat, suite for soprano, vibraphone, and marimba, Op. 253 (1971)
Benjamin Britten: Death in Venice (1973)
Stuart Saunders Smith: Links series, 11 works (1975–1994)
Tomáš Svoboda: Morning Prayer, for four percussionists, Op. 101 (1981)
Tomáš Svoboda: Baroque Trio, for vibraphone, electric guitar, and piano, Op. 109 (1982)
Steve Reich: Sextet, for four percussionists and two keyboardists (1984–1985)
Franco Donatoni: Omar (1985)
Pierre Boulez: "...explosante-fixe......explosante-fixe...", version for vibraphone and
electronics (1986)
Morton Feldman: For Stefan Wolpe for chorus and two vibraphones (1986)
Philippe Manoury: Solo de vibraphone (1986)
 Lior Navok: V5—for vibraphone and string quartet (1994)
Emmanuel Séjourné: Concerto for vibraphone and orchestra; Concerto for vibraphone and
piano (1999)
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Strahlen for vibraphone (optionally with glockenspiel) and ten-
channel electronic music (2002)
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Vibra-Elufa for vibraphone (2003)
Gil Shohat: Tyre and Jerusalem (2003)
William P. Perry: Jamestown Concerto (2008)
Gil Shohat: The Child Dreams (2010),
Luigi Morleo: Diritti: NO LIMIT Concerto for Vibraphone and String Orchestra (2013)
Tommy Vig: Concerto for vibraharp and orchestra (2013)
Fabian Müller: Concerto for Vibraphone and Orchestra (2014)
Pascal Schumacher: Windfall Concerto for vibraphone and orchestra (2016)

Use in film scores

Bernard Herrmann used the vibraphone extensively in many of his film and television scores,
most notably in his scores for Fahrenheit 451 and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

See also
Balafon
Lithophone
Metallophone
List of vibraphonists

References
1. "Vibist definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary" (https://www.collinsdictionary.com
/us/dictionary/english/vibist). www.collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
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Further reading
Introduction to Jazz Vibes; by Gary Burton; Creative Music; 1965.
Contemporary Mallet Method – An Approach to the Vibraphone and Marimba; by Jerry
Tachoir: Riohcat Music; 1980
The Mallet Percussions and How to Use Them: by Wallace Barnett; J.C. Deagan Company:
 1975
The Story of Mallet Instruments: 16mm and DVD: by Barry J. Carroll J.C. Deagan
Company: 1975
Udow, Michael (2019-07-10), Percussion Pedagogy, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-
19-090296-4
Cook, Gary D. (2018-01-01), Teaching Percussion, Cengage Learning, ISBN 978-1-337-
67222-1

External links
Media related to Vibraphones at Wikimedia Commons
Reich Sextet Performs "Camerata Pacifica" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zKgf3H5-
Bo) on YouTube
Mallet Damping (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raxpggRbJnc) – demonstration by Gary
Burton

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