Talk:Glockenspiel
From Academic Kids
Leaving article alone for the moment, but I disagree on the use of the vibraphone as a comparison. The most notable characteristic of the vibraphone is the tremelo effect induced by motor-operated fans in its tubes. The vibraphone is essentially a motorized marimba or a sort of "Leslie speaker" attachment. The xylophone is a set of tuned wood blocks, a glockenspiel is a set of tuned metal blocks. The vibraphone is not a good comparison, xylophone is, because the vibrating part is a distraction. Ortolan88 17:50 Sep 6, 2002 (UCT)
- I agree with you, but the way you'd edited it left it reading: "It is similar to the xylophone, in that it has metal bars layed out in a fashion resembling a piano keyboard", which of course isn't true, because as you say, the xylophone has wooden bars. By all means, change the sentence to a valid comparison to the xylophone, which I agree is preferable. --Camembert 17:59 Sep 6, 2002 (UCT)
Indeed, it was careless editing on my part, or careless reading. Carelessness was in there somewhere. I'll make small change.
Odd vibraphone fact: Milt Jackson's reputation for "thoughtful, intense playing" was based largely on his slowing down the speed of the motor on his vibes. Ortolan88
...if laid out horizontally, a keyboard may be attached to the instrument to allow chords to be played. One piece where such an instrument is used is Mozart's The Magic Flute.
This sounds like a celesta. Is there really an add-on keyboard for the glockenspiel? Also, the sentence implies that you can't play chords on a glockenspiel without a keyboard. -- Merphant
- No, it's not a celesta, you really can add a keyboard onto a glockenspiel. This would differ from a celesta, because a celesta includes wooden resonators, which a glockenspiel usually lacks. So a celesta gives you a more mellow sound (I think the celesta is usually described as having "plaques" rather than bars, tho whether that's significant, I don't really know). The implication you can't play chords sans keyboard is wrong, of course - I'll fiddle with it. --Camembert
- Sorry, I might have misunderstood you there - when you hear The Magic Flute nowadays, it is indeed usually a celeste that plays that part, but what Mozart actually asked for was something like a keyed glock (the celesta wasn't yet invented), and other pieces have also been written for keyboard glocks. I'll fiddle a little more. --Camembert
