- Lithophone
A lithophone is a
musical instrument consisting of a plurality of rocks or pieces of rock, in which musical notes are sounded by striking one or more of the rocks in combination (harmony) or succession (melody).Notable examples
*A rudimentary form of lithophone is the
rock gong , usually a natural rock formation opportunistically adapted by indigenous peoples to produce tones for a variety of purposes. Examples include the rock gong onMfangano Island ,Kenya , inLake Victoria .
*Lithophones dating back to ancient times, called "đàn đá ", have been discovered inVietnam and have been revived in the 20th century.
*The ritual music of Korea features the use of stone chimes called "pyeongyeong ", derived from the Chinese "bianqing ".*The British composer
Will Menter [http://www.willmenter.com] invented the llechiphone, amarimba with keys made ofslate , while working inNorth Wales . [http://www.neufportes.net/inst.htm]
**Other slate lithophones, called stonaphones, are made in the U.S. state ofMaine by Jim Doble out of recycled slateroofing . [http://www.tidewater.net/~xylojim/edstone.html]
*One of the most celebrated examples of a lithophone isThe Great Stalacpipe Organ ofLuray Caverns ,Virginia , USA, which uses 37 stalactites to produce the tones of the Western scale.
*TheMusical Stones of Skiddaw fromCumbria ,England , found inKeswick Museum and Art Gallery and Ringing Rocks Park inPennsylvania are other well known lithophones.
*Prehistoric lithophone stones have also been found atSankarjang inOrissa , India.Use by composers
The German composer
Carl Orff calls for a lithophone called "Steinspiel" in his later works.Electric lithophone
Some lithophones include electric pickups to amplify the sounds.
Examples of electric lithophones include an installation in [http://www.princetonoccasion.org/quarkpark/pages_statements/PerryCook.html Quark Park] by Perry Cook and Jonathan Shor, consisting of 17 bars stretched over a convert|35|ft|m|sing=on long path.
Other similar musical instruments
The lithophone is similar to the
glockenspiel , tubular glockenspiel,metallophone ,xylophone ,marimba , and to the glass percussion instruments created by Barry Prophet of The Music Gallery, not to be confused with theverrophone (a musical instrument that makes sound by rubbing, not by hitting, glass).External links
Video
* [http://www.footprintsvietnam.com/vietnam/culture_art_performaces/lithiphone.htm Vietnamese Lithophone Video]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtHRPqFDg1k The Musical Stones of Skiddaw being played]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQdC-RPjTMg Video of the Great Stalacpipe Organ]ee also
*
Ringing rocks
*Sankarjang ReferenceP. Yule/M. Bemmann, Klangsteine aus Orissa Die frühesten Musikinstrumente Indiens?, "Archaeologia Musicalis" 2.1, 1988, 41–50 (also in English und French)
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