 Musical percussion
instrument consisting of a series of graduated wooden bars that are struck
with mallets to produce sound. Xylophones had developed in Southeast Asia
by the 14th century. They became a prominent instrument in African music,
and African slaves introduced the xylophone to Latin America. It arrived
in Europe about 1500. Its first orchestral use was in Danse Macabre (1874)
by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The simplest African xylophone
is a pair of bars laid across the player's legs. Usually the bars are mounted
on a frame, touching it at a nonvibrating point (called a node) near each
end of the bar. The orchestral xylophone has two rows of bars arranged like
piano keys. Xylophonelike instruments with metal bars include the glockenspiel
and vibraharp.
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