Bells, xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone: what's the difference?

All four have their bars laid out like a piano keyboard, so a note is in the same place on each one. What changes is the bars (metal or wood), how long a note rings, which octave it sounds in, and which mallets you can use. Bells and xylophone are high and bright. Marimba and vibraphone are lower and warmer, and the vibraphone has a pedal.

The four instruments at a glance

Bells (glockenspiel)

Bells, also called glockenspiel or orchestra bells, usually have steel bars, though some school kits use aluminum. Most cover about two and a half octaves. You may play a concert set on a stand, or a bell kit that comes in a case. The sound is very high and carries over the whole band, so play softer than you think you need to.

A bell note rings for a long time on its own, so bell parts rarely need rolls. Let the mallet bounce off the bar: a hard stroke turns into a clang, especially with brass mallets. New to bells? Start with how to hold mallets and play your first notes.

Xylophone

Xylophone bars are rosewood or a synthetic material. Under them hang metal tubes called resonators, which make each note louder. A xylophone note dies away fast, so the sound is crisp and dry and fast passages stay clean. Many concert xylophones have three and a half octaves; smaller models have fewer.

Because the sound fades so quickly, a long xylophone note dies away well before its written value ends. To keep it sounding, roll it: fast single strokes that keep the bar ringing. Roll when the part has roll marks or says to, or when the style or your director calls for it. Without those, a long note is usually struck once and left to fade. See how to roll on marimba and xylophone.

Marimba

The marimba has wider bars, longer resonators, and a much lower range than the xylophone. School marimbas are often 4⅓ octaves; a 5-octave marimba adds the lowest few notes, down to C. Notes ring longer than on xylophone but still fade. Roll a long note when the part marks it. In slow music, some directors also want long notes rolled when the part doesn't mark them.

Marimba parts often use treble and bass clef together, the way piano music does. If bass clef is new to you, read the grand staff before your first marimba part. Use the marimba mallets your teacher gives you. A mallet that's too hard for the bar, especially on the thin low bars, can crack it.

Vibraphone and its pedal

Vibraphone bars are aluminum, and a note rings for several seconds. A felt damper bar presses against the bars from below and stops the sound. Press the pedal down and the damper moves away, so the notes ring. Let the pedal up and the damper stops them. Most vibraphones cover three octaves, from F to F; some models have more.

To connect notes, the example changes the pedal with each new note. Strike the next note, and as it sounds, let the pedal up and press it straight back down. The damper touches the bars for only a moment: long enough to stop the old note, short enough that the new one keeps ringing. In Change with each note, the pedal comes up just as each note starts and goes back down a moment later.

That's one common way to pedal, not the only one. Vibraphonists change the timing by ear, and some music calls for other pedaling, such as letting the pedal only partway up. Your teacher can show you what a passage needs. In a fast passage, you can keep the pedal up and let the notes stay short.

Most vibraphones also have a motor that turns small fans at the tops of the resonators. With it on, each note pulses, which is where the name comes from. Try Motor in the example above. Your part may say "motor on" or "motor off"; if it says neither, ask your director.

Which octave each one sounds in

All four read treble clef, and the marimba reads bass clef as well. Bells and xylophone are written lower than they sound, which keeps their parts from needing stacks of ledger lines. You read the same note on any of them. The instrument decides which octave you hear.

So when the flutes and the bells read the same written C, the bells sound two octaves above the flutes. Marimba and vibraphone sound right where the note is written.

Which mallets go with which instrument

The right mallet depends on the instrument, the register, and how hard the mallet is, not just what it's made of. A mallet that's too hard for a bar can dent or crack it, and bars are expensive to replace. Never use brass or other metal mallets on wooden bars. Marimba players do use some rubber mallets, but only ones made for marimba. Before you use a mallet you haven't tried on an instrument, ask your teacher or check the maker's guide.

Switching instruments in band

Percussionists move between instruments in the same piece all the time. Before you move:

• Check the part. Is it treble clef only, or treble and bass (marimba)? Are there pedal or motor markings (vibraphone)?
• Put the right mallets for each instrument on the trap table before the piece starts.
• Set the height when you get there: bars at about belt height, the same as on bells.
• Find C before your entrance. The landmarks are the same on all four, but xylophone and marimba bars are usually wider than bell bars, so moving the same number of bars is a longer reach than on bells.
• Pencil the switch into your part: how many bars you have to move, and which mallets to pick up.
• Set mallets down on a towel on the trap table, not on the bars, where they can roll off or ring.

Practice

Find the Bar in Percussion Trainer has all four instruments. Pick the one you play in band and practice finding notes on its keyboard: xylophone, marimba, or vibraphone. For reading the notes on the staff, see reading mallet music.