metallophone
Illustration — A metallophone used in a Gamelan—Indonesian Embassy in Canberra A metallophone is any musical instrument in which the sound-producing body is a piece of metal (other than a metal string), such as tuned metal bars, tubes, rods, bowls, or plates. Most frequently the metal body is struck to produce sound, usually with a mallet, but may also be activated by friction, keyboard action, or other means. Metallophones have been used in music in Asia for thousands of years.
Also recorded as metal bar percussion instrument
metallophone
Ferbr1 · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Field
- idiophone · musical instrument · percussion instrument
- Related practice
- metal
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Illustration — A metallophone used in a Gamelan—Indonesian Embassy in Canberra A metallophone is any musical instrument in which the sound-producing body is a piece of metal (other than a metal string), such as tuned metal bars, tubes, rods, bowls, or plates. Most frequently the metal body is struck to produce sound, usually with a mallet, but may also be activated by friction, keyboard action, or other means. Metallophones have been used in music in Asia for thousands of years.
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Broader Term · incoming
bonang
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No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims).
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dulcitone
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fangxiang
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gangsa
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glockenspiel
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idiophone
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/culturalis/4639123450/sizes/o/in/photostream/
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percussion instrument
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reyong
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Saron
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No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims).
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1165766
In this article
Classification
Classification
There are several different types used in Balinese and Javanese gamelan ensembles, including the gendèr, gangsa and saron. These instruments have a single row of bars, tuned to the distinctive pelog or slendro scales, or a subset of them. The Western glockenspiel and vibraphone are also metallophones: they have two rows of bars, in an imitation of the piano keyboard, and are tuned to the chromatic scale. In music of the 20th century and beyond, the word metallophone is sometimes applied specifically to a single row of metal bars suspended over a resonator box. Metallophones tuned to the diatonic scale are often used in schools; Carl Orff used diatonic metallophones in several of his pieces, including his pedagogical Schulwerk. Metallophones with microtonal tunings are used in Iannis Xenakis' Pléïades and in the music of Harry Partch.
Metallophones are a subset, made of metal, of Hornbostel-Sachs category 111.22 Percussion plaques, which is a subset of percussion idiophones.
List of metallophones
List of metallophones
• Illustration — Kulintang a Tiniok: A Philippine metallophone • Aluphone • Bell • Bell plate • Bonang • Cegléd water jug • Celesta • Chime bar • Cowbells • Crotales • Dulcitone • Fangxiang • Gangsa • Geger • Gendèr • Glockenspiel • Gong • Hand bells • Handpan • Jegogan • Jublag • Kulintang a Tiniok/Sarunay • Mark tree • Orff metallophones • Ranat ek lek • Ranat thum lek • Rhodes piano • Roneat dek • Roneat thong • Saron • Slentem • Step bell • Steel marimbaphone • Ugal • Steel drum • Tam-tam • Toy piano • Triangle • Tubaphone • Tubular bells • Vibraphone • Waterphone
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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