Xylophone

A general term for a percussion instrument made of several tuned pieces of wood arranged together as a set. The pieces (sounding plates) are made of hard, dried wood, and the pitch is adjusted by changing the length, width, and thickness of the pieces. The longer, wider, and thinner the pieces are cut, the lower the pitch. The tone varies depending on the material of the pieces of wood and the mallets, and soft materials such as wood or rubber are used for the heads of the mallets. The simplest xylophone is one in which several pieces of wood are arranged on the player's thighs and played, or one in which logs are arranged over a hole dug in the ground and played, and is commonly seen in Africa. However, in general, the pieces of wood are often fixed in place. A method commonly seen in Southeast Asia and Africa is to tie several pieces of wood together with string and fix them to an outer frame, which is less likely to interfere with the vibration of the pieces of wood and produces good sound quality. There is also a method of fixing the pieces of wood by placing them directly on the frame. In this case, some ingenuity is applied to the contact points between the pieces of wood and the frame. The 16th century European xylophone was called Strohfiedel (German) because it had wooden pieces arranged on strings made of bundled straw. The modern xylophone used in Western music also has wooden pieces arranged in a chromatic scale of three and a half to four octaves, with cushions made of felt or other materials placed under them.

In many cases, there is a resonating chamber beneath the lined-up wooden pieces. In African marimbas and Western xylophones, a resonating tube is attached to the bottom of each wooden piece. In Southeast Asian and East Asian xylophones, and in xylophones that were introduced from China in the 19th century and are used in the background music of Kabuki, a boat-shaped box serves as a frame to support the wooden pieces and as a resonating chamber.

[Takanori Fujita]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

調律された木片を複数個並べ、一組として使う打奏楽器の総称。木片（音板）には硬質で乾燥した木が用いられ、木片の長さ、幅、厚みを変えることで音高を調節する。長く、幅広く、薄く削るほど音高は低くなる。音色は木片や桴(ばち)の材質によって変わり、桴の頭部には木やゴムなどの軟質材を用いる。もっとも簡単なつくりの木琴は、奏者のふとももの上に数本の木片を並べて打奏するものや、地面に掘った穴の上に丸太を並べて打奏するもので、アフリカに多くみられる。しかし、一般には木片は固定される場合が多い。東南アジアやアフリカに広くみられるのは、複数の木片を互いに紐(ひも)で結び合わせて外側の枠に固定する方法で、この方法によると木片の振動が妨げられにくく、よい音質が得られる。また枠の上に木片を直接置いて固定する方法もある。この場合は、木片と枠との接触部分にくふうがなされる。16世紀のヨーロッパの木琴は、藁(わら)を束ねた紐の上に木片を並べたのでシュトローフィーデルStrohfiedel（ドイツ語）　とよばれた。現在の西洋音楽のザイロフォーン（シロホン）xylophoneも、半音階に3オクターブ半から4オクターブ並べた木片の下にフェルト製などのクッションを敷いている。

　また、並んだ木片の下部には共鳴室がある場合が多い。アフリカのマリンバmarimba類や、西洋のザイロフォーンでは、各木片の下部に共鳴筒が取り付けてある。東南アジアや東アジアの木琴、19世紀に中国から伝来し歌舞伎(かぶき)の下座(げざ)音楽に使われる木琴などでは、舟型に組まれた箱が木片を支える枠と共鳴室の役割を果たしている。

［藤田隆則］

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